The Gay-dy Bunch!
by Vivid Insomnia
Summary: [VIVID INSOMNIA ALTERNATE UNIVERSE] After encountering and later visiting his favorite scientist, Finian Kenny-Meyer, Astro makes the decision to move in with him and his husband. (RATED T FOR SWEARING, SEXUAL REFERENCES, AND MATURE THEMES SUCH AS SUICIDE, DEPRESSION, LGBTQ PROBLEMS, ETC.)
1. 19-2000

The Gay-dy Bunch

Chapter one: 19-2000

Walking the streets of the Underground City, Astro was going about his usual stride he took by himself every morning while conscience either fed him information, kept quiet, or just casually picked at a conversation. He called this his "Silent" walks, seeing as he liked these the best… until he bumped into someone wearing a white lab coat.

"OH! Sorry sir!" Astro exclaimed, taking a step back.

"Oh no, I'm sorry.. I've been in such a rush, oh…. I'm Dr. Finian Kenny Jr., by the way.." The person who said was "Dr. Kenny" shook Astro's hand.

"The Dr. Kenny! You're a legend to me!" Astro beamed.

"It's nothing kid, hey.. if you ever want a little tweaking or repairs, here's my card, I won't charge you since I've known you since you were Tobio.."

"You, have?"

"Well, maybe not literally, but when your father took head position, he was practically a celebrity and the press loved him, and they loved you too…"

"Well, what do you mean by 'tweaking'?"

"I do all kinds of repairs. Nothing is impossible for Finian Kenny. It's funny how someone far less intelligent than me went and achieved more than anyone smarter than either of us."

"I assume you don't work for the ministry..."

"No, I work alone. Self employed."

"Hmm... maybe I will give you a call, I just need time to think about it…"

"Anything you want, it's yours kid.. Don't even need to ask, just tell and I'll do my magic…"

"Wow, cool!" Astro smiled.

"Well, I better get going, see ya around!" Dr. Kenny ran off again.

Astro examined the card given to him closely and observed all the details on it.

"Maybe he can fix me, stop me from being crazy."

 _Haha, what do you mean by that?_

"You know… I'm just not myself.. i wonder if he knows why…"

 _Eh… if he does, he does, if he doesn't… he just doesn't…_

"You're just saying that because you like controlling me.."

 _I- I-It's not that! I just…_

"What?"

 _Ahh.. you'll never understand…_

"Pfft.. whatever…" Astro continued on..

"I'm back!" Astro walked into the small apartment, Atom was sitting on the floor watching TV in the living room.

"Ooh, whatcha watching?" Astro asked, he walked over and sat next to Atom.

"Just something random..." Atom shrugged solemnly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing... I just, I should've really apologized to Kaitlyn for being a jerk the day she called you over, but I just don't know how..."

"Well... How do you normally apologize to people?"

"I just say I'm sorry, but I need to be more genuine... If I just say 'sorry' it won't be enough and it'll just sound like I could care less, when I don't!"

"Hmmm... Wish I could help you, but apologizing isn't really my thing, you can try and ask Brianna.."

Atom quietly nodded his head and got up to go see Brianna.

…

Finian walked through the door of his apartment after the long walk home.

Quinn stopped in his tracks and put the rag in his hand down at the sound of the door opening, turning around with a big smile.

"Oh your back, and still alive!" He greeted.

"Yeah… wish I wasn't but oh well, guess things just don't pan out for ya…"

Finian walked into the apartment, quickly noticing how spotless it was.

"... what did you do?" He sounded confused with a genuine concern.

Quinn looked over at Finian again with a wide smile.

"I uh…I cleaned!"

Finian, annoyed, closed the door behind him and walked up to the counter.

"This isn't one of your 'cleaning frenzies' is it?"

"Pffftttt whaaatttttt? Noooooo… well maybe… yeah." Quinn shamefully looked down at the counter.

Finian rolled his eyes, still annoyed.

"You know… having a clean place isn't worth shit when you're dead."

"But it's a great thing to go down in history for!" Quinn pointed, lookin back up at Finian.

With another hand to the face, Finian cringed for what seemed to be the millionth time that day.

"Listen… having this place be clean is nice, but having a spotless house isn't going to get you a job anywhere, especially the ministry."

"Yeah… didn't you get fired from there?"

"... that's not the point- do you think they just hired me because I wrote 'I have a nice house and suck dick for five hours straight'?!"

"... I would assume so, yes." Quinn slowly nodded.

Finian sighed with yet another cringe and a hand to the face, again.

"You're full of shit you know that right?" He pointed at Quinn.

Quinn bursted into a chuckle as Finian walked away, slowing shaking his head.

"But you still love me!" He called out.

"Yes… as ironic as it sounds, I still do." Finian looked behind him with a smirk before continuing on his way down the hallway.

Quinn turned away from the counter to face the sink, chuckling some more as he turned the water on and grabbed a few dirty dishes.

…

"Well…. just be genuine, if sorry doesn't cut it then maybe she's not taking you seriously?" Brianna put her nail filer down on the nightstand.

Atom sighed.

"Look, if it doesn't work out, at least you had good intentions, right?"

"... Yeah, I guess so."

Astro walked into the room.

"Y'all fuckers still alive?" He asked sarcastically.

Brianna burst into a laugh, getting up from the bed and walking to Astro.

Atom saw where this was going and stood up from sitting on the floor to leave the room, and to his predictions, Brianna was already in another make out session with Astro.

He sat down on the couch in the living room, trying to hold his tears in.

"Just… tell her you're sorry…. is that so hard?"

Atom sighed, there was no use in feeling bad at this point, he knew what he had to do regardless of how cheesy it may come across to Kaitlyn.

…

Quinn set two plates down on the table and sat himself down at one end, staring at the door, and then at his food. Finian walked out of the hallway as if to go into the kitchen but saw his plate on the table.

"Dinner?" He asked

"What?" Quinn looked up at Finian, his mouth overflowing with spaghetti.

Finian shrugged and sat down.

There were a few moments of silence and silverware clanking on ceramic plates before Quinn spoke up.

"So…. how was your day?"

"I died inside." Finian replied, stone faced and monotone.

"Again?" The redhead joked. He chuckled for a moment. "No, seriously. Anything interesting?"

"I met Astro on my way home."

"Astro!? _The_ ASTRO?! Astro _Boy_?!" Quinn nearly spit out the food he was eating.

Finian nodded with a shrug, twisting his fork in the spaghetti on his plate.

"Wow! I had no idea he lived in the Underground City now… That couldn't possibly mean… _he_ lives here, too, could it?"

"Doesn't sound like him... Unless he's here to foil yet another one of my evil plans!" Finian slammed his fist on the table, sending his fork flying into the air and onto the floor.

There was a moment of silence before Quinn snorted. The two of them broke out into mild laughter.

"You're cleaning that up, by the way." Quinn pointed to the floor.

"Uh…."

…

The next day, Astro headed out on his walk again, this time with a water bottle in hand and music blasting in his ears.

He referenced the business card in his hand for a hot second before shoving it back into the back pocket of his black skinny jeans.

 _Where we heading to today?_

"Not now."

 _Oh come on, I'd like to keep being informed on your whereabouts, I am, in fact, apart of you…_

"And?" Astro opened his water bottle and took a huge gulp.

 _Well-_

"How about you just shove it and sit your ass down, huh? I'm fucking tired of you, and I'm tired of this bullshit, I takes these walks so I don't jump off a bridge and die, and yet you're still here talking shit like all this progress doesn't matter…."

 _HEY! YOU BE CAREFUL WHO YOU'RE TALKING TO, ASSHOLE!_

Astro turned the music up louder and kept walking

He turned a corner and was met with more tall buildings and beautiful architecture.

…

"You're lucky you have me here, you know." Quinn said to Finian as he organized the scattered papers on the counter.

"This is why I only let you in here once a week..." Finian cringed as Quinn moved more and more of his precious research into separate piles.

"I will never understand how you do work in these conditions..." He turned around to take some tools to the shelves on the other side of the room and looked up at Finain in the process.

"Stop cringing so much, you'll get wrinkles." Quinn lightly tapped the doctor's face with his free hand as he walked by him.

Suddenly, they heard a knock at the front door.

"You didn't say there would be any clients coming in today..."

"I didn't have anybody scheduled."

"Guess I'm just going to have to go and shoo them away, seeing as how _busy_ we are here." Quinn gestured at the mess of an office before leaving the room.

Finian sighed and picked up some of his tools, continuing what Quinn was doing.

"We don't take walk-in's. Sor-" Quinn opened the front door to see Astro standing outside, giving the man a confused look.

"Oh, wrong address? Shit."

"Oh! Astro? You're here for Finn?"

"Uhhhh, no… I'm here to die actually, but thanks for the concern." Astro replied sarcastically.

"We um… don't do that here…."

"... that was sarcasm…." Astro blinked.

"Oh! Ah. Would you like to come in?"

"Sure, got nothing to lose…"

"He'll be out in a moment, just make yourself at home." Quinn walked into the hallway, leaving Astro to himself.

"Cool."

"Astro is here..." Quinn poked his head into the office.

"He is?" Finian seemed somewhat taken aback. "I did give him my business card… But I didn't think he'd be here so soon..."

"Well, get your butt out there and see what he wants. I have to take care of this..." Quinn opened the door and walked in while Finian made his way out.

"Hello, Astro. Sorry if Quinn gave you any problems. We weren't expecting anyone today." Finn walked into the waiting room, adjusting his necktie.

"It's fine, I'm already dying on the inside so mild inconveniences don't phase me…"

"... Same."

Astro burst into a chuckle.

"So, how can I help you?"

Astro shrugged.

"Very descriptive."

"Hmmm yeah, I should write a book about that, call it 'The Shrug™'" Astro waved his hands in a whimsical manner.

"Interesting. Now if you could tell me why you've stopped by, that would be wonderful, seeing as you likely didn't come just to waste my time."

Astro contemplated for a moment.

"I...I don't know actually…. Must have forgotten…." He didn't speak as enthusiastically as he had before.

"Ah. Well, I guess talking with you would be better than watching Quinn clean the office." Finian sat down in the seat opposite of Astro.

"Kool." Astro rolled his shoulders back and sighed.

"You live in the city now?"

"Uhhh… yeah! I do, for now…"

"With whom?"

"Oh, just my girlfriend, nothing fancy schmancy."

"I see. Have you seen your father lately?"

"PFFFFFFTTTTTTT! No."

Finn wanted to sigh in relief but kept it inside.

"So you have a girlfriend?" He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together.

Astro looked down at Finian's hands for a split second. He gazed down again, having noticed a silver band on the doctor's left ring finger.

"You're married?"

Finian looked down at his own hand. "Yes."

"Haha. Who's the lucky lady?"

He pointed his thumb behind his shoulder, in the direction of the hallway. "Him."

"Oh." Astro tried not to look shocked, although he was.

"Shocking?" Finian smirked.

"Yeah, pretty much…"

"I FINISHED!" Quinn ran into the room, hyperventilating.

Finan and Astro stared at him for a moment.

"Congrats." Astro sarcastically replied.

"What a good wife." Finian stood up.

"What?" Quinn looked confused and slightly embarrassed.

"Lucky lady!" Astro exclaimed in a joking manner.

"Did I miss something?"

"Yeah the dinosaurs." Astro had decided not to speak anymore after that terrible joke.

"I.. I'm really confused right now."

"Forget about it..." Finn patted Quinn on the shoulder before leaving a kiss on his cheek.

"Um… ok..."

"Shall we move the conversation to the office?" Finian looked at Astro then Quinn.

"I dunno, why not?" Astro shrugged.

Finian walked into the hallway, expecting the others to follow. Astro stood to his feet and walked closely behind.

"I uh guess you want me to come too, right? Right." Quinn looked back at the two before catching up with them.

"...maybe….." Astro looked at him and tried not to laugh.

They all made their way into the office and each took a seat.

"Damn… this is fancy... "

"Of course it is, and it would stay that way if _someone_ kept it clean." Quinn crossed his arms.

Finian rolled his eyes and handed a booklet to Astro. "Maybe you can get an idea for what you want if you look through this."

"Oh." Astro took the book and looked through it, canceling out Finian blab on about what was in the book and Quinn constantly moving to clean smudges off of the counter.

 _You're not really going to go through with this are you?_

If Astro were alone, he could respond, for now he flipped through more pages and sighed.

 _Astro? Astro? You're not going through with this are you?! YOU'RE NOT GETTING RID OF ME!_

Astro cringed for a moment when Conscience yelled, he then returned to flipping through pages, trying to shake off his emotions.

 _DON'T YOU DARE DO IT YOU FUCKING BITCH!_

Astro slammed the book shut.

"Oh. Have you decided wha-"

"Fix me."

"Fix you? What is broken?" Finian stood up from his seat.

"Everything." He muttered.

"That's impossible... You seemed to be functioning properly." The doctor looked him over.

 _YOU'RE NOT GOING THROUGH WITH THIS YOU HEAR ME?! I AM NOT GOING DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT YOU KNOW! DON'T YOU DARE HAVE ME MAKE THINGS WORSE FOR YOU!_

Astro seemed to be under a lot of pressure, sighing, he tried not to cry or lose his cool.

 _JESUS, I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR ONE SECOND AND NOW YOU'RE READY TO TRASH ME? FUCK YOU AND FUCK YOUR FEELINGS YOU'RE A PIECE OF SHIT AND I HOPE YOU REGRET THIS!_

"Astro? Are you alright?" Quinn looked at the boy with concern.

Astro ignored him and tried to ward off Conscience.

He shook his head and sighed, trying not to give into the depression emotions.

"Maybe it's his programming..." Finian thought outloud.

 _SHIT SHIT THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT ASTRO, YOU NEED TO GET UP AND LEAVE, THIS BITCH IS GOING TO FUCK YOU UP, ABORT ABORT!_

"...maybe…" Astro replied.

 _What?! Don't give into him!? We're trying to get you out of this, not deeper down the rabbit hole!_

"Finn?" Quinn looked at his husband as he prepared to look through the boy's data.

"What?"

"Can I speak to you in the hall, please?"

"Can't you see I'm busy..."

" _Finian..._ "

"... Fine..." He followed Quinn out the door and into the hallway.

Astro felt a slight relief when they left, letting out a sigh.

 _LOOK WHAT YOU GOT YOURSELF INTO?!_

"Shut up!" Astro pulled at his hair. "Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up! I don't give a shit now please leave me alone before I have a mental breakdown!"

 _I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU, I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS!_

Tears streamed down Astro's face as he couldn't take the abuse anymore. "... Is this what you wanted? Are you happy seeing me suffer now?!"

 _Oh no…. THIS is only the beginning…_

"You asshole!"

 _Really? Asshole? THAT'S all you got? Try and be more creative next time huh sweetheart?_

Astro groaned. "I don't have time for this!"

"Quinn… what could you possibly need? I was about to figure out what his problem was."

"You can't fix him."

"Why not? Don't you like seeing robots get better?"

"Yes. But… What if someone notices his change… We could be found out..."

"You're right..."

"It's bad enough having to run away from my family for this. I don't want to lose you, too..." He rested his head on Finian's chest.

"Ok. I'll tell him I can't do it." Finn wrapped his arms around Quinn and rested his chin in his curly ginger hair.

"Thank you..." Quinn's voice cracked.

Finian gave the man a kiss on the forehead before walking back into the room.

"I'm sorry, Astro. But I can't fix you."

 _HA! AND HERE YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SO CLOSE AHAHAHAHAHAHA JOKES ON YOU ASSHOLE!_

"Oh…. Okay." Astro didn't seem phased.

"I hope what's broken isn't an emergency… but that is very unlikely."

"Eh… it'll probably blow over anyways…." Astro shrugged.

"If you have any more problems, don't be afraid to stop by." Finian led the boy to the front door.

"Yeah…"

 _You come back I'm taking over and killing you._

"Farewell."

Astro waved goodbye with a forced smiled and went down the elevator.

…

Atom sat at the counter with his phone in his hand, ready to dial Kaitlyn.

He sighed, still worrying if whatever he says just won't be enough in Kaitlyn's eyes.

What if the damage could never be undone?

Regardless, he pressed the call button on the screen and held the phone to his ear.

The ringing tone was heard for a while before the sound of a phone being picked up was heard.

"Kaitlyn?" Atom asked.

No response.

Atom sighed.

" _...Atom?"_

"Kaitlyn!" Atom exclaimed suddenly.

"I-I…." He sighed, not being able to make sentences.

"I'm sorry….."

" _What?"_

"I'm sorry for Winter break- for what I did! I-I-I didn't mean to be rude I just- I listened to Astro and got all caught up and the-"

" _It's OK…."_

"But-But…"

" _Look, it's all in the past now, let's get over it."_

Atom sighed. "You're right…. Thanks."

Kaitlyn sighed.

"You… OK?"

" _Yeah…. Never felt better!"_

Atom sighed again and stood up from the chair he was seated in, walking over to the living room and falling to the ground.

"Couldn't agree more…."

Astro walked into the house and shut the door behind him, then scurried off to his room.

 _You are in big trouble mister!_

"What? So I didn't listen all the way through, big deal!"

 _This isn't about that- you went to him and talked about getting fixed, you know what that means for me!?_

"Look… It's for the best I'd get it done, but I got turned down anyways, does _that_ make you happy?"

 _If I could sigh I would._

"And if I could beat your ass, I would."

 _Softly._

Astro sat down in his chair and looked down at the carpet with a small smile of interest. "Softly." he chuckled to himself.

 _Hey, don't get too ahead of yourself!_

Astro's cheeks went pink "Shut up."

…

Astro knocked on the door again, waiting a few moments before it opened.

"Oh, it's you again!" Quinn smiled after opening the door.

"One and only!" Astro remarked. "Actually I'm kidding, there's nothing special about me, I'm a huge disappointment…" He walked inside.

"So what brings you by again?"

"The sweet sweet craving of death…."

"Sorry, we don't have that."

"Aw, bummer." Astro let out a small chuckle.

"Would you like anything to eat? A drink, maybe?"

"Nah I'm good." Astro casually plopped onto the couch.

"You have a nice couch…" He commented, feeling its textured fabric with his hands.

"Thank you!"

"Whale cum." Astro smiled.

"So… can I help you with anything? Would you like to see the doctor?"

"What's the meaning of life?"

Quinn stood there with his mouth slightly agape as if he was about to say something but nothing came out and he stared at Astro in confusion.

"Oh no, I'm asking for my girlfriend, she has a paper due on the meaning of life, I wouldn't know, I'm not human."

"... I don't know either, buddy…."

"Welp then she's screwed…." Astro carelessly shrugged.

"The things they have kids do essays on these days..."

"Agreed…"

"So how is your guy's sex life?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing… I said nothing…." Astro stared off into the distance.

"Oh! Astro! Why didn't you tell me he was here?" Finian walked out of the kitchen and into the room.

"Ahh-"

"I dunno, he has issues- you know what the meaning of life is? Asking for my girlfriend."

"You really want to ask _me_ that question?"

"Well yeah, what other humans do I know?"

"Sex. It's sex."

" _FINIAN!_ " Quinn slapped the man on the arm, his face flushed red.

"I knew it!" Astro exclaimed.

"No no no!" Quinn waved his hands frantically.

"Great I'll text her now." Astro pulled his phone out to text Brianna.

Quinn brought his hands to his face and sighed loudly.

"You don't agree? We do it practically every other night..." Finian turned to Quinn, who was ready to melt into a puddle on the carpet.

"Ha-oh shit." Astro commented as he texted away.

"Why did I marry you?"

"What are you talking about!? You're the one that wanted to get married so badly! I told you it was ridiculous! Why don't you ever listen to me?"

Astro was trying his hardest to not laugh as he overheard their conversation while texting.

"Oh shit. She doesn't believe me. I'll just show her video proof." Astro turned on his camera and pointed his phone towards the two men.

"This guy," Astro pointed to Finian with his free hand, "Is the one that said the meaning of life is sex."

"I'm a scientist. I can confirm it to be true."

"He can confirm the truth….."

Quinn turned around and rested his forehead on the wall, giving up on life.

"And then this one is his trusty ginger sidekick….. Not sure what he's for…"

"Oh. I think Quinn wants to demonstrate." Finian walked over and grabbed Quinn's pants as if to pull them down.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" He turned around quickly, holding onto his pants, keeping them as far up as they could go. "HE IS A CHILD!"

"Jesus you're only here for a hot second and it's like you entered a porno…." Astro tried his hardest not to laugh

"Oh yeah. Shit." Finian took a step back.

Astro fell off the couch dying of laughter.

"And that folks, is proof that the meaning of life is 'sex'!" He said, laughing, after flipping the camera to facecam and ending the video.

"She's gonna fucking love this! OH MY GOD! She could add this to her project and show the whole class!"

"AHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOO!" Quinn looked as if his head was about to explode.

He ran over and grabbed Astro's phone, deleting the video before it could be sent.

"We are not doing this!" His voice cracked. "This is a morally upstanding house and we will not have such things!"

Astro had a hand over his mouth to stop his laughter, obviously not taking Quinn seriously.

Finian joined Astro in laughing. "Quinn…. Why do you tell yourself these lies?" He said between chuckles.

"...Oh shit ouch… talk about...r...roast…."

"You want to get arrested for pornography and pedophilia, then sure! Call me from your prison cell!"

"Sure, what do I have to lose?"

"ME!" Quinn ran into the hallway and a door could be heard being opened aggressively and slammed closed.

Finn immediately stopped laughing.

"Whelp, all I gotta say is we darn fucked, huh? No pun intended."

"Would you shut the fuck up for a second, boy?"

Astro stared at the ceiling.

Finian sighed and walked after Quinn.

"...Guess she's not getting that paper done…" Astro muttered to himself as he watched Finian leave. "Wait shit… I need my phone back, whoops… Oh well, I gotta run a few errands anyways…" Astro got up from the couch and casually left.

"I can't believe you did that… this is so embarrassing..." Quinn slowly walked down the hallway and to the waiting room, his hands over his face.

"You know I'm bad with children… Besides, he's a robot. His age is only theoretical." Finn followed closely behind.

"Yes. He is a robot. And his mental age is 3 times his physical age. You almost fucked me in front of a _5 year old_. Do you know how many laws this has broken? This is so immoral. I feel sick."

"Quinn…. _Please_ …."

"No Finian. I-... Where'd he go?" They walked into the room to see it empty. "Look what you've done! You've traumatized him and now he's run off!" He waved his hands in the air.

"Quinn… You still have his phone..." Finian looked at Quinn's hands as he moved them frantically.

"What? Oh…. This is a problem…."

…

Astro came back home another day with bags in his hands, he saw Brianna sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Bought the stuff for dinner." He said

"Oh. Nice!" Brianna sat up and walked over to him.

She grabbed a bag and planted a kiss on his lips for a second.

Astro tried not to blush as he carried the rest of the bags to the kitchen.

"So did you ever get your phone back?" She asked.

"Yeah. I stopped by and they gave it back. Said they didn't know where I live and were waiting for me to visit again to hand it back." Astro shrugged, pulling a few things out of a grocery bag.

"Oh. That's good!" Brianna shimmied closer to Astro, her hip against his.

Astro out of an impulse grabbed Brianna by the arm and twirled her around.

"Hey! Ha! You didn't say we were gonna dance?!" She chuckled.

"Oh, right. We're dancing." Astro brought her out into the living room and danced with her some more.

Atom walked out of the hallway and saw Astro and Brianna to his right laughing as they struggled to keep the dancing momentum.

"Need help?" He asked, walking over to the TV.

"I dunno." Astro shrugged.

Atom tried not to laugh as he changed the channel.

Brianna finally stopped and pulled Astro in for a kiss, Atom had already accepted the fact that Brianna was know to go from 0-100 quite rapidly and thus kept his cool.

They broke off the kiss and Astro walked back into the kitchen, red-faced, continuing to put away the groceries.

 _ **((END OF CHAPTER 1!))**_


	2. Moving In

…

Astro looked down at his phone. It was 1:32 in the morning. He shrugged and turned his attention back to the Monopoly board.

"Wait wait, did _you_ go or did _I_ go? I don't even know anymore." Astro rubbed his tired eyes with his hands.

"Hold on a second..." Finian clicked away at his calculator as he recounted his money for the hundredth time.

"I think you went, right? So then it's Ginger's turn… good luck." He slid the dice over to Quinn.

Quinn's eyes were closed and his head was resting on his hand, a drip of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"Whelp, he knocked out again, guess I'm going!" Astro snatched the dice back and shook them in his hand, then dropping them and letting the dice hit the gameboard.

He was starting to lose count of how many times he's been over to visit Finian and Quinn. This time they invited him over for a 'game night'. Of the pile of board games next to the wall, they all agreed on Monopoly. The coffee table was soon cluttered with cards and fake money.

"Shit, going to jail…" Astro complained as he moved his piece over to the 'Jail' corner.

Quinn opened his eyes slowly only to see they were still playing. He yawned.

"Aye Ginger's ba-" Astro was about to exclaim before being cut off by a yawn.

"I think I'm gonna call it a night..." He stood up, taking the pillow he had under his knees and tossing it onto the couch behind Astro.

"OK kool, don't die -hey that could be my new catchphrase…-"

"Goodnight..." Quinn yawned and hobbled towards the hallway.

"Don't die." Astro called out.

"Night." Finian quickly blurted out, not taking his eyes off his hands.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Nerdo…" Astro looked up at Finian.

"Now that's it's my turn and Quinn has quit the game, and since I have more than enough money, I'm able to buy all his properties, like so," he placed a large stack of paper money in the middle of the board and replaced all of Quinn's game pieces with his own.

"Damn, I'm screwed."

"Your turn." Finain handed the die to Astro after rolling it himself.

"But wait I'm in jail…"

"Oh. Yes. You're right."

"Pfffttt, you even know how to play this game anymore… jesus I can't even _see_ anymore…"

"Yes… just things get all… muddled up… in here if I'm up for too long..." He motioned to his head, twirling his fingers around, then rolling the dice.

"Maybe it's best we hold off until tomorrow before we both go insane?"

"No need. I just bought out your biggest share anyways," Finian moved a few spaces to one of Astro's squares.

"Ouch, I'm screwed."

"Technically, you lose."

"Whelp." Astro had a blank expression on his face.

"Time for bed, then." Finian stood up and grabbed the box to the game, mindlessly shoveling everything on the table into it.

"Oh alright then, guess that's my cue to go?"

"You can't walk home when it's this late…," Finn looked down at his watch. "It's dangerous."

"Haha." Astro stood up laughing. "Watch me." He headed for the door.

"No you don't! I won't have anyone getting mugged or kidnapped on my watch." Finian grabbed Astro by the shoulder.

"Fuck." Astro frowned.

"You can sleep on the couch you compliment so often."

"Oh great!" Astro plopped onto the couch. "Mmmmmyeah you're right dis is a noice couch."

Finian grabbed the blanket that was hanging on the back of the armchair and handed it to Astro.

"You know I come here so often I might as well live here." Astro joked, bursting into laughter as he took the blanket from Finian

"Haha. Well, you might want to think more about that. As much as Quinn and I enjoy your company, I don't think that would be the best idea."

"Pfft I was only joking…"

"If you say so. Goodnight, Astro." Finian turned off the lights and left for his own bedroom.

"Don't die." Astro replied quietly, pulling the sheets closer.

…

"Hey, do you know where Atom left to?" Brianna asked, setting a plate down on the table.

"Oh yeah, he left to go see what's-his-face uhhhh, I don't even know his name… watch me forget and never try to remember again hahaha, the asshole in me is grinning."

Brianna chuckled. "Well, I only ask because I have a plate of food ready for him but I guess since he's not here you can have it." She pulled out a seat for herself and grabbed a fork from beside her plate.

"Oh, yeah, seems reasonable…" Astro walked into the kitchen.

"It's in the microwave." Brianna spoke with a full mouth of food.

Astro sat down with the plate of food in his hand, he gently placed the food on the table and reached for a fork.

There were a few moments of silence before Astro spoke.

"So… I think we need to talk." He began, setting his fork down.

"What?!" Food flew out of Brianna's mouth. "You're not breaking up with me, are you?!"

"Nononono!" Astro rapidly shook his hands. "It's not about that!"

" _Good._ " She moved her fork back down to her plate instead of having it 2 inches from Astro's face.

"Well…. I've been thinking… of moving out of here…"

"But I like it here..."

"Well I do too but… I dunno, I just- hmmm…."Astro rested his head in his hand.

"Just _what_?"

"I-I… I don't know yet…"

"I'm thinking it's for the best that I send you and Atom back to Metro City…"

"Why? I don't wanna go back there..."

"Well…. I just think it's for the best." Astro stuffed food into his mouth again.

Brianna looked down at her plate and moved her food around.

"I know you hate it back there, and I do too, which is why I'm never going back, but I just think sending you and Atom back will do more good than harm, and keep people off my back."

"Why can't _I_ stay with you? Sure, send the little gay back. He doesn't care. But what about me?"

"This isn't about you OK, it's for my own well being, not yours, you and Atom can go back, as long as you promise me he won't go back to Elefun's…"

"Why's it gotta be all about you..." She muttered under her breath.

"What? It's always about you Brianna, and you know that. Oh, one mild inconvenience and Cookies has to compromise a little? You can't have everything in life you know! Learned that the hard way…."

"Fine. I'll go back..."

"... Thank you." Astro sighed.

"But I'll never forgive you for this, Pookie."

Astro sighed. "I think I can live with that…"

They ate the rest of their meal in silence.

…

"Beep beep, comin through, don't wanna hit you with a fucking big ass box." Astro walked through the door of Quinn and Finn's apartment.

"I don't get why I have so much shit but I got so much shit." He busted the door open and threw the box to the ground.

"Don't die." He said, finger gunning at Finian as he walked back out the door again.

"I can't believe we agreed to this…." Finn looked back at Quinn.

"What? It'll be fun having him around. Now how about you shut up and help me out here..." Quinn walked out the study with another pile of books in his arms.

Finian rolled his eyes and walked into the room.

Astro walked back in a while later with another set of boxes in his hand.

"Think this is it…."

"Hope you don't mind sleeping on the floor for now… The bed's gonna be shipped later than expected..." Quinn said as he walked by Astro.

"As long as no one dies…" Astro joked.

"Man I'm on a role with this joke!" He said to himself.

Astro dropped the boxes onto the floor. "Damn that was a bang."

"CAREFUL! Don't want you to smash your toes." Finian looked at Astro.

"What?" Astro turned around, oblivious to what Kenny had said.

"Nothing."

"Oh OK." Astro crouched down and opened one of the boxes.

…

"So ummm… I put this in here?" Atom asked, pointing to a corner of Brianna's room.

"Yeah whatever." Brianna rolled her eyes and pushed her hair out of her face.

Atom sighed and put the box down in the corner of the room.

"Hey would you look at that, Atom's moved in!" Ken exclaimed as he barged into the room.

"Only for a little while…" Atom chuckled. "Astro says to wait until Tenma finds out and 'loses his shit' I dunno…."

Brianna groaned. "Can you two do me a favor and get the fuck out of my room?"

Atom glared at her as he got up and left the room with Ken.

"Dang she's even saltier than before. What did you guys do to her?" Ken asked Atom as they walked into his room.

"Oh no, she's always hated me, and I lowkey hate her too…"

"Oh. Why's that?"

"I dunno, maybe cuz I'm gay? I have no idea…"

"Hmm. Well make yourself at home!"

Atom chuckled and sat down on the bed.

…

"Wait, wait, wait…. Slow down." Tenma held his hands up in front of him.

Kaitlyn took a deep breath and prepared to repeat the entire story she had just spewed out at the man.

"Atom and Bri live with Ken now." Emily said, cutting the story short.

"...And Astro?"

"No idea. Probably still in the Underground City. At least that's what Atom said. He said Astro convinced him and Bri that it was 'for the best'." Kaitlyn shrugged.

"Have you lost your shit yet?" Emily asked.

"Pardon?"

"Atom said he'd be at Ken's until you 'lost your shit' or something. He said Astro told him that, too."

Tenma sighed.

"You think that means yes? He looks like he's about to lose his shit..." Kaitlyn whispered to Emily.

"I guess…" Emily whispered back, shrugging.

"What should we do?" Tenma looked over at Cindy, his hand on his forehead.

"It sounds like he doesn't expect to stay there long. Perhaps he's waiting on you?"

"I think you should get him." Emily suggested.

"Seems I have no choice..." Tenma stood up and made his way to the front door.

…

Atom was sitting at the table in the dining room, texting away on his phone when he heard a knock at the door.

"I'LL GET IT!" He called out, getting up from his chair and running to the door.

"Hello who is- Tenma?" Atom tilted his head when he opened the door and saw Tenma standing in front of him.

"I didn't 'lose my shit'. So I guess Astro was somewhat wrong..."

"Oh…. bummer." Atom chuckled.

"So, you here to visit?" He asked.

"You could say that."

"Oh! Well…" Atom moved out of the way. "You can come in if you want…"

"Ah. Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Atom chuckled.

He felt a vibration in his pocket suddenly, pulling his phone out he saw a notification for a text message.

 _ **FROM: ASTRO-**_

 _ **Put on your headphones on and watch this, I'm so done with life….**_

"Oh…" Atom sat down in his seat again, grabbing for his headphones. Tenma followed him and sat in the seat across from Atom.

 _[Tube You] Skateboarding My Ass Home._

 _[Astro is seen holding a camera to his face while walking]_

 _Astro: [Dramatically pissed] Jesus fucking christ, tired of this shit, shit fucking stinks, I'm so done, that's it, I'm going home, gonna skateboard my ass home!_

 _[Astro gets on his skateboard and begins to skateboard on the sidewalk.]_

 _Astro: Anyways, hello everybody, welcome to the vlog. Just getting my ass home because I'm tired of this fucking bullshit I swear…_

 _[Astro pans the camera from his face to his skateboard for a moment, then back at his face again]_

Atom tried not to laugh as he turned the volume up on his phone.

 _Astro: [trying to sing] Oooohhhhhh. ON MAH WAY TO THE HOME-IO! TO THE HOME-IO! TO THE HOOOME-IO OOOOHHH!_

Atom bursted into laughter and pulled one earbud from his ear.

 _Astro: OK note-to-self: never sing again you sound like a banshee._

 _[Astro pans the camera to the sidewalk across from him on the other side of the road, we can see one of Astro's friends casually walking with a spray can in hand]_

 _Astro: Hey look its Lucas the asshole, say hi to the vlog!_

 _Lucas: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?_

 _Astro: SKATEBOARDING MY ASS HOME, I'M TIRED OF THIS BULLSHIT!_

 _Lucas: COOL, HI VLOG!_

 _[Astro pans the camera back on his face.]_

 _Astro: Don't listen to him he's a psycho._

 _Lucas: AYE SHUT UP ASSHOLE!_

 _[Astro pans the camera back at Lucas]_

 _Astro: SUCK A DICK! *burst into laughter*_

Atom tried not to laugh.

"Is there something wrong?" Tenma asked

"No… no… I just…. ahahahaha… I can't…" Atom paused the video and burst into laughter.

"I'm… I'm watching this video… and…."

"A video?" Tenma stood up.

"Yeah, you wanna watch?" Atom offered.

"Sure." He walked over and stood next to Atom.

Atom handed him an earbud.

 _Astro: WELL GOODBYE WEIRDO, I'M GONNA KEEP SKATING TO MY DEATH._

 _[Astro pans the camera back on his face and keeps skateboarding]_

"Is that Astro?"

"Uhhh yeah, it is, why?" Atom replied.

"No reason..."

 _[As Astro is skating, we see a floral shoppe up ahead, which Astro pans to]_

 _Astro: Oh look they got a floral shoppe here, reminds me of that vaporwave song, I'll insert it if I don't get bitten for copyright…._

 _[The video jump cuts to panning on Astro's face again]_

 _Astro: Lol if I keep skating till I die can we just refer back to that Q &A last week like I'm dead serious guys, someone better cremate me and turn me into a fucking shopping cart I'm not joking…_

 _Astro: Or… or… imagine it's like a superpower of mines or some shit where like I turn into one in the middle of the night._

 _Astro: Actually that sounds pretty hilarious, like just imagine one of my parents coming in to ask me something and they see me as a shopping cart and their like 'goddamnit Astro… why do you keep going with this shopping cart bullshit I swear…'_

 _[Astro burst into laughter and almost loses his balance]_

 _Astro: Woah, holy shit! Could've almost fallen! I mean not like I would care I'm SKATEBOARDING MY ASS HOME!_

 _[The video jump cuts to Astro pulling into a building]_

 _Astro: Finally I'm home!_

 _[A black screen appears with the text 'cut this part out because I'm too lazy to blur out all the shit I don't want you guys seeing, you're welcome. Also please dislike and unsubscribe, I hate being famous, goodbye.' And Elevator music in the background]_

 _[The video cuts to Astro skateboarding in a hallway and stopping at a door to unlock it, then skateboards inside]_

 _Astro: [Pans camera to face Quinn and Finian] *Finger guns* Sup Daddy-o's? Miss me?_

 _[Quinn is seen facepalming as Astro skateboards away to his room.]_

 _Finn: [In the distance] I TOLD YOU NO SKATEBOARDING IN THE HOUSE, IT'S DANGEROUS!_

 _[The video switches to the view of a different camera sitting on a tripod facing the front of Astro's room instead of on his face, not even seconds later we see Astro skateboarding in]_

 _Astro: [Looking at the Tripod camera] OK so yeah, I'm home, still alive, sadly… but that's okay…._

 _Astro: Anyways yeah, that's the end of this vlog, hope you hated it, dislike and unsubscribe it really helps me lose fame I don't want… and don't die._

 _[The video ends]_

Atom looked over at Tenma. His face was like stone.

"Uh. Tenma? What's wrong?"

"Nothing…. Totally didn't see anyone I used to know or anything…." He blinked.

"Oh." Atom put his phone down.

"He does kinda weird videos like that, but I guess my weird sense of humor finds it funny." Atom shrugged. "So why'd you stop by anyways? Oh yeah. I'm moving in with you now, right?"

"Ah… Yes. Yes. If you would like to. There's an extra room you can use."

"Oh sure! It's probably better than the air mattress I've been on the past few nights, no offense…"

A moment later, Ken walked out into the dining room and saw Atom and Tenma sitting at the table.

"So I guess you were right, he did lose his shit and came to get you…" he began with a chuckle.

"I didn't lose my shit..." Tenma said, almost inaudibly.

"Oh… my mistake, doctor…" Ken nodded.

"It's fine. It's fine." Tenma smiled after noticing his own strange attitude.

"So you're here to get him? I can tell my mom if you'd like?"

"That'd be great."

"Oh, well… see you later then Atom." Ken waved goodbye and walked away to go find his mother.

"You wouldn't happen to know where those two men in Astro's video live, would you?" Tenma asked Atom.

"Uhhh no, don't think so, probably in the Underground City since that's where Astro lives? I dunno…" Atom shrugged.

"I see..."

"He never said anything to us, really, just told us to go back, and I can't go to Elefun's too, I remember that… and what else did he say? Think that was it… hmmm…."

"Do you know their names?"

"Nope. Seems strange you'd be so interested, if I knew I probably would have asked Astro more questions but sadly I know nothing…"

"It's just that I know those two men. But that was a _long_ time ago..."

"Oh really? Wow, talk about small world huh?"

"Tell me about it..."

"Well, maybe you could do some research, or try and talk to Astro, I can't vouch for you though, he'd kill me, sorry…."

"I doubt he'd want to speak with me."

"Well… I guess you're out of gas…" Atom sighed.

"Was anybody else around other than you and Brianna?"

"No just us, I mean I know Astro had a few friends that visited, but he always went to see them, not the other way around… Oh wait. Kaitlyn did come and visit that one time… Although, I don't think she'd know anything..."

"I think she might still be back at my house with Emily. I can help you get packed and we can head back."

"Alrighty!" Atom stood up from his chair. "My stuff is in Brianna's room, but be careful, she can be a bit salty…."

…

Tenma opened the front door to his house as Atom carried a box inside.

"Wow. That was fast..." Kaitlyn turned back to look at Tenma and Atom.

"Really? It felt like ages…" Atom replied.

"Well he did just leave like an hour ago..." Emily looked over.

"Hmmmm, true, I'll be back, gonna go put this stuff down." Atom walked away from the girls and followed Tenma to an empty room in the house.

"So this is it?" He asked "This room?"

"Yes… sorry if it's a little dirty…."

"Haha it's OK, I can clean it up later…" Atom put the box down and dusted his hands off.

Atom sat down on the couch in front of the girls after dropping all the boxes off in his room.

"So, Tenma asked me about these two guys in one of Astro's videos…. and we're trying to figure out who they are, or at least where they are, why? I dunno, but he seems pretty invested in figuring it out, you guys know anything?"

"The least I know is that the one man's name is Finian Kenny." Tenma sat in the arm chair next to the couch.

"Haha, kinda sounds like a funny name like a "trying too hard to sound fancy" type name…" Atom chuckled.

"That man couldn't care less about being 'fancy'. Being arrogant? Yes."

"Oh, well you seem to know a lot…" Atom commented.

"I used to work with him at the Ministry."

Atom gasped. "Wow this world is even smaller than I thought…."

"However, he took too much pride in his work. Which eventually got him fired… me being the man who let him go."

"Ouch…. I'm sure he probably hates you…."

"You're not wrong. He said to me, right as he was running out, 'You haven't seen the last of me!' I guess I really didn't."

"Wow…. and what about that other one, he seems relatable, actually he reminds me a lot of Stephen…"

"I don't remember his name, but he was an intern at the time, almost done with his internship. He hung around Dr. Kenny almost all the time. The two were inseparable. So it didn't surprise me when I heard he quit the same day I fired Finian."

"So wait, if they worked at the ministry, they must be here in Metro City then, right?"

"It's highly unlikely. His license was revoked when he was fired, he's not able to do any work in the City. Or any city, with the right laws. And knowing him, he wouldn't want to up and stop his work. The Underground City is notorious for having flexible laws and great places to hide."

"Oh… I see…"

"Do you remember Astro saying anything about these two?"

"No… nothing at all…"

"Kaitlyn?"

"No… but I did see a business card on their kitchen table… I think it might have been the guy..."

"Did it have an address, a phone number?"

"I can only remember seeing the website…. I can't _not_ remember a cheesy website url when i see one."

"And it was..."

"Oh. .com. He used a free website making thing. Ha! Noob. I think it was 'fkenny' actually…."

She pulled out her phone and looked up the website.

"Yeah... this is shit. Looks like he spent 2 minutes on it and didn't add anything except his contact information. Here you go Lurk-man." She showed the phone to Tenma.

"Wow. You're right. This is terrible." Tenma sent the address to his own phone.

"So. You gonna go stalk them right away.. Or?"

"I think I'm going to give it some time before I look further into this."

…

"Do you want me to go with you?" Atom offered, walking alongside Tenma.

"You don't have to. I'll be fine on my own."

"Oh okay then, good luck!"

Tenma left the house and got into his car, turning it on and driving out of the driveway.

Astro was sitting at the dining room table drawing with his tablet on the computer, he reached over for a cracker from a bowl he had set aside next to his laptop.

"Shit!" He complained, hitting the CMD+Z button again on his keyboard.

"Ughhhhhhh." Astro groaned as he facepalmed out of stress. "I fucking hate drawing I don't even know why i do it this is supposed to be vent art and it's making me lose my shit even more jesus christ…."

"Think I just need to go outside." Astro stood up and headed for the door.

"GONNA GO GET FRESH AIR SEE YOU LATER DON'T DIE!" Astro called out to Quinn and Finian before walking out the door.

"BE CAREFUL!" Finian yelled back.

"Finn… he's gone..." Quinn patted his husband on the shoulder.

"I… I just want him to be safe..."

"I know, sweetie… I know."

Astro, once he reached the first floor, walked out of the elevator and out of the building. He took a deep breath and tried to not stress.

He looked up at the clouds in the sky and how peacefully they moved in the sky, for a moment, he wished he could be as calm and as blissful as those clouds.

He decided to sit down at the entrance of the building and observe the clouds some more.

After a while of observing, he heard a car pass by, Astro looked down from the clouds to see a familiar car pulling up.

"Oh no." Astro quickly got up to run back inside.

The car stopped at the entrance and the driver saw Astro was about to run inside.

"Astro!" They called out.

Astro froze, he didn't bother to turn around as he was petrified with fear.

"Astro?"

Astro shook and tried not to speak.

"Astro, I just want to talk to you..."

Astro sighed. "I'm not in the mood." He muttered.

"You can't stay here."

"Oh really? And like you have the final say?"

"I'm your father"

"And? You think you get some VIP special treatment for it?"

"I-"

"ASTRO?! WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?! YOU SHOULDN'T BE TALKING TO STRANGERS!" Quinn called from a window upstairs.

"It's no one, at least not anymore… I'm coming up now!" Astro headed back inside the building.

"Astro!" Tenma called after him.

"DON'T TALK TO ME OR MY SON EVER AGAIN!" Quinn yelled down.

"'My son?' Who does that man think he is?" Tenma muttered to himself before driving off.

Astro came up the elevator and sighed with a sad look to him.

Tears soon streamed down his face as he stood next to Quinn and wiped a few tears from his face with his arm, the stress being too much for him.

"You alright there, buddy?" Quinn put his hand gently on Astro's shoulder.

"D-does it look like it?" Astro complained angrily, more tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Do you need a hug?"

Astro closed his eyes and nodded.

Quinn brought him in close for a hug and held the boy tightly as he sniffled.

…

Tenma slumped down on the couch.

"Oh hey, Dad, you're back!" Atom greeted.

"Hello, Atom..."

"Oh, did I say something bad?"

"No no. It isn't you."

"Oh." Atom sat down next to him.

"So you went to find Astro? How'd that go? Did you find him?"

"Yes. I found him."

"Great! So how'd it go?"

"He'd rather stay where he is."

"Oh… interesting… Well, if that's what he wants, then I think that's OK, there's nothing wrong with being comfortable with where you're at. You have me anyways."

"You're right, Atom. I'd take you over Astro anyday." Tenma put his arm around Atom's shoulders.

Atom chuckled and looked at Tenma with a smile.

…

Quinn grabbed an armful of things from the fridge, putting each ingredient down on the counter one by one, in order and in a neat line. He turned on the stovetop and filled a pot with water, placing it on the hot burner.

He reached over and grabbed a pan. "Same, buddy. Same." He said to it before chucking and setting it down next to the pot.

"'Step 1: Pour the olive oil into the pan and wait for it to simmer. Cut the chicken into even slices, then put each slice individually into the pan, making sure they do not touch.' Easy."

Quinn followed the steps precisely. He turned around to grab the spices when he suddenly heard a bang. He looked over to see the oven had suddenly turned off.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He yelled, fearing his meal was ruined.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO DIE!" Astro ran into the kitchen, skidding to a stop. "What happened…?" He asked, annoyed there was no disaster before him.

"The oven…. My baby…. It just… stopped..." Quinn looked back at Astro, tears forming in his eyes.

"Oh… Does that mean?... YES! CHINESE FOR DINNER!" Astro jumped with joy, running to grab the phone and the take-out menu for Quinn.

"I guess so..." He sighed as he took the menu from Astro.

"Ha. If we were getting mexican, you coulda said 'I queso'!" Astro finger-gunned at Quinn and almost passed out from laughing. "By the way, I want orange chicken and fried rice. Thanks, pa!" He ran back to his room.

It was half an hour later and the three were sitting around the table, eating their take-out with chopsticks.

"Hey, Dad. Mr. Chef over there broke the oven." Astro pointed across the table to Quinn

"You broke the oven?" Finian looked over at his husband.

"N-no…." The redhead looked down at his food.

Finn sighed. "I'll fix it..." He stood up and headed to the kitchen.

"But… you're not finished your food..." Quinn looked over at the half-eaten General Tso's chicken next to him.

"Better now than later." Finian grabbed some tools from one of the kitchen drawers.

"Don't die." Astro joked to Finian.

"At least we won't have to waste money on a new one..."

"AHH FUCKING GOD DAMMIT!" A loud crash came from the kitchen.

"FINIAN?! Are you ok?!"

"Yes, dear... Just dandy… Fuck..."

Quinn got up from his seat and walked over to the oven.

"Finn, you're getting your shirt all dirty…. Do you need my help?"

"No, no. I can handle it.. SHIT!" Quinn could hear another crash.

"AHHHHHHHH!" There was a large spark and Finn jumped out from the inside of the oven and to the other side of the kitchen.

"Nope! Nope! Can't! Can't do it! Unsafe!…."

"Great fucking job Ginger you broke the damn thing! Now you owe your husband a new oven!" Astro looked over at Quinn then over at Finn. "And maybe a new pair of underwear, 'cause I don't think his is clean anymore..."

…

"Come on, Astro! We're going in a few minutes! Are you ready?" Quinn called out as he cleaned up the mess on the kitchen table.

Astro walked down the hallway in the same PJ's he had on earlier. "I dunno does it look like it?"

"Go get ready."

Astro sighed and walked back into his room "See you in an hour…."

He came back into the room sooner than expected.

"Wow. I thought you said an hour."

Astro shrugged and walked towards the door.

"I really don't understand why you take so long to get ready. Is it that hard to put on those skinny jeans?"

"I dunno, don't die." Astro finger gunned at Quinn again and headed out the door.

…

Astro was the first to walk into the store, he stopped and took a deep breath.

"Ahhh the sweet smell of my fellow brethren, how satisfying it is to be here." Astro continued on with a smile.

"It's this way." Quinn passed by Astro and motioned for him to follow.

"Oh." Astro turned around and caught up with Quinn.

"Ooooh this one looks nice." Astro walked up to an oven and stroked the stove gently.

"Are you crazy? We don't have that kind of money." Quinn looked at the price tag.

"I didn't say to buy it…." Astro opened the oven door. "I'm just saying it looks pretty." He tried climbing inside the oven.

"Astro! What are you doing?!"

"What, this is kinda nice. Hey close the door will ya?"

"No. Get out of that oven..."

"Just accept the facts Ginger… I'm stuck here…."

"No, Astro. Get out before we get in trouble with security."

Astro sadly sighed and tried pushing himself out of the oven. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck ouch shit OK don't get this oven this is really painful ow ow ow is this what being a turkey feels like just fucking shit man this is ouchhhhhh"

Quinn sighed and took Astro's arm, pulling him out.

"I HAVE BEEN SAVED AND RESURRECTED LORD JESUS AHHH! I'VE BEEN RE-BIRTHED! I FEEL LIKE A NEW ROBOT!"

Quinn sighed again before walking over to another, less visibly-pleasing oven.

Astro waited for Quinn to get out of his sight before he stuck his head in the oven again. "You know this oven is painful but it still looks really nice…."

"If I wasn't in a relationship I'd sure make a move." Astro chuckled to himself and pulled his head out of the oven, then closing the door.

"Why are you like this?"

"What? I can't talk to my fellow brethren?"

"We're getting this one." Quinn ignored Astro and showed him the oven.

"Ayeeeeeee!" Astro walked up to the oven and you guessed it, finger gunned at it. "Names Astro." He raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

"This oven is going to be a part of our family, don't flirt with it, you nasty."

"Pffft what? I'm not flirting hahaha, I have a girlfriend… don't listen to him Cheapo Oven, he just doesn't understand…." Astro stroked the oven some more as he rested his head on the stove.

"Why did we let you live with us?..."

Astro started walking away, trying not to laugh. "Don't die." he looked behind him to say to Quinn.

Quinn sighed yet again.

 _ **((END OF CHAPTER 2!))**_


	3. Mini-Golfing

...

Towards the afternoon, Atom walked into his room, plopping onto the bed and reaching for his phone.

From: Astro-

I did another one. Watch it but don't die.

"Oh! Ummm…" Atom looked for his earphones.

Once he finally found them; he plugged them into his phone, then played the video Astro sent.

...

[Tube You] I'm Actually Going Out Somewhere, Bless

[Astro is seen peering out of his room; looking into the hallway, we hear the sound of people (Presumably Quinn and Finian) talking over a TV]

[Camera pans to Astro with an 'I'm so done' facial expression]

[The video then jump cuts to Astro a few moments later]

Astro: Anyways, hello everyone, welcome to the vlog.

Astro: I [pauses] am actually going somewhere for once, I know, surprising, [laughs] couldn't believe it.

[The video jump cuts to Astro about to head out the door]

Astro: Mwelp, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, [pauses] I guess I'll see you outside, I dunno anymore lesbihonest uh- don't die.

[We get a time lapse montage with cheesy elevator music in the background of Astro, Quinn, and Finian heading out]

…

Astro took his camera away from the car window and looked out it again for one more moment to savor the scenery before looking down at the camera in his lap.

"That should be enough footage." He said to himself.

"So where the fuck we goin', Ginger?" He said a little too loud as he looked up at the passenger's seat.

"It's. A. Surprise. How many more times do I have to tell you?" Quinn whined.

"NERDO! Where we going?"

Finian shrugged.

"HOW ARE YOU DRIVING BUT HAVE NO IDEA WHERE WE'RE GOING?!"

"I'm giving him directions, haven't you been listening the whole time?" Quinn looked back at Astro.

"I GOT THESE SHITS IN." Astro pulled out one of his earbuds out of his ear.

"So you missed all my great puns?..." Quinn pouted.

"Trust me, you didn't miss anything..." Finian mumbled before getting smacked on the shoulder by his husband.

"MY PUNS ARE AMAZING, HOW DARE YOU!"

"I'll probably be subjected to the torture of them when I listen back to this…." He held up his camera.

"Oh! I forgot you were recording! Oh, are you still recording right now?" Quinn tried striking a pose but failed miserably when he almost choked himself with his seatbelt.

"I dunno…. I ask myself that every day…. But um. Yeah. And I'm adding that to the video.

"Also uh… don't fucking die, or get tangled in a seatbelt." Astro shoved his earbud back into his ear.

"Ok. Now turn right. Now park…. and … We're here!"

"Why this?" Finian mumbled to himself.

"Astro! We're here!" Quinn turned back to Astro.

"Wut?" Astro looked up.

"WE'RE HERE!"

"WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU TWO MAKE ME LOSE MY HEARING..." Finian tried yelling over Astro and Quinn as they went back and forth.

Astro got a glance out the window and paused.

"HOLY SHIT IS THAT FUCKING MINI-GOLF?!" He screamed as he frantically unbuckled his seatbelt and bolted out the of the car, running up to the front entrance.

"Can't believe out of the all shit you could've picked, you chose fucking mini-golf, what are we? Old people?" Finian looked over at Quinn as he was starting to leave the car.

"Oh, come one. You'll like it."

"Uhhh yeah… uh… just uh… waitin' for mah dads they're uh… over der." Astro pointed to Quinn and Finian.

The front desk lady tried not to frown.

"... trust me, I'm just as confused as you, but at the end of the day, you're getting our money so it doesn't really matter." He shrugged.

The lady at the desk turned away from him the moment Astro stopped speaking.

"There ya fuckin go again asshole, not even the front desk lady wants to talk to you…." He muttered to himself.

"AYE! It's Nerdo and his Ginger sidekick! They didn't fucking die!" He waved his hand in excitement as the two men came closer.

"Look how excited Astro is!" Quinn waved back to him.

"Interesting..." Finn said, not looking up from his phone.

"See? They're pretty cool! Nothin to worry about."

"Is it just the three of you?" The lady turned back around.

"Mmmmmmm, don't know." Astro rested his arm on the counter. "Could be, could not….." He raised an eyebrow.

The woman glared at him. She glared harder at Quinn and Finn as the two men approached.

"Ack! Ha… ha… so sorry… um…. Oh boy, *another round of coughing* seems like I uh…. *cough* sorry… *cough* I'm just choking on all of this *cough* HOMOPHOBIA. *louder cough*" Astro took a step back and shook his head

"WHO WHAT?! WHO YELLED 'HOMOPHOBIA'?! WHO'S ASS I GOTTA KICK?!" Quinn came running over.

"...shit."

"It's kool Ginger, it's kool." Astro backed away.

"Hmmm… Fine… If you say so..." He glared back at the woman.

"How much will it be for the three of us?" Kenny asked the woman when he finally made it to the others.

"Um." The woman cleared her throat. "16 dollars per person."

"So 48 dollars?"

"Y-yes..."

"Damn, talk about pricey am I right…?" Astro looked at the two of them.

"One moment please." Finn looked down at his phone. "I believe you told me the wrong price, ma'am. Your website says it's 12 dollars per person."

"Ah. We- We adjusted the prices lately…."

"It says here the site was updated 2 weeks ago. You brought up your price by 33% in the span of two weeks? I'm sorry but, that seems unrealistic." He put his phone back in his pocket and leaned against the counter, giving the woman an evil smirk.

"Ah... The economy-… our competition-... ah….. I can give you a discount! Haha!" She smiled nervously, trying not to look at Quinn or into Finn's eyes for fear that she will either be pummeled into the next galaxy or that her soul will be sucked from her body.

"That sounds agreeable! So 10 per person?" Finian smiled.

"But. 10. Is a lot. It was… 16..."

"But 12 is the original price, ma'am. A humble discount would be about 20%."

"Ahhhhh…. Yes… Yes, sir… That'll be 30 dollars."

Finian handed the woman 3 ten-dollar bills as she handed him 3 golf balls and clubs with shaky hands.

"Thank you so much, ma'am." Finian began to walk over to the start of the course before turning around for a moment. "Oh. And it's Homosapien, not Heterosapien." He smiled warmly at the woman.

Quinn gave her the 'I've got my eyes on you' gesture before following Kenny. Astro hugged closely to Quinn's side, looking back as the woman shivered in fear and slowly hid behind the counter, terrified.

"Well that was a roller toaster, Am I right? Cuz ya know… she got burned...like toast…. haha."

Quinn looked down at Astro with a tear in his eye. "I'm so proud of you, son!" He wiped the tear from his eye and scooped Astro up in a big bear hug.

Astro played off his moment of bewilderment with laughter but soon found himself confused once more.

"Son?"

He let the thought go, for now, continuing with the other two to the first hole.

Finn set his golf ball down on the fake grass, flat and worn down from years of mini-golfers trekking this very same course. He looked carefully at every corner and every curve of the green. With a swift tap of his putter, he sent the ball rolling in a perfect line right to the hole.

"HOLE IN ONE!" Quinn announced, excitedly. "See Finn, I told you you'd love it!"

"Just simple geometry and physics." Finian spun the golf club in his hand.

Astro set his golf ball down, and, in half the time as Finn, analyzed the course, quickly sending the ball into the hole before Finn could even get his out.

"Geometry and physics blah blah. How about that, Science Boy?" Astro smirked and, copying Finn, spun his club in his hand, but stopped when he nearly hit himself in the face.

"ANOTHER HOLE IN ONE! Oh boy! This is going to be fun!" Quinn jotted down Astro and Finian's strokes into the scorecard. "Definitely choose the perfect place. God, I'm smart!"

He put down the scorecard, reaching for his club and swinging at the golf ball, but was saddened by the fact that his ball barely made it to the hole.

Astro turned around and tried not to laugh, eventually turning back around to catch up with Finian who had already gotten his second hole-in-one.

They had made it halfway through the course before Astro decided to take out his camera again.

"Hmmm. The battery is almost at 40%... Gotta be careful what I film until we get home..." He said to himself. "But I mean…. Gotta do something crazy for the vlog."

He looked out at the course and saw a nearby pond.

…

[Astro is holding the camera to his face, at the end of every sentence, he looks behind him to see if Finian is approaching]

Astro: So uh…. I was thinking…. Since I'm here, well uh.

[Astro pans the view to face the course in front of him]

Astro: You see this? I'm gonna purposely miss that hole [points to said hole], then I'm gonna jump in the water over there like that meme [points to the pond]. I'm pretty far ahead so I think it's worth a shot.

[Astro fumbles with the camera to find a way to hold it plus his club. You can see, slightly out of frame, that Finian is staring judgingly at Astro.]

[Astro then hits the golf ball with his club, sending said ball past the hole, he then makes a run for the gate and jumps into the water, we anticipate a cool underwater scene, but to our surprise, the water is only 1 foot deep, and Astro has a very stupid look on his face as he realized he forgot to breathe before jumping. During this time, a small fish swims straight into the lens, making a thump. Astro pops his head out of the water and looks into the camera.]

Astro: Welp, this wasn't what I expected.

Astro: Jesus, now what am I gonna do?! I need to do some crazy shit to make a click bait thumbnail…..

Astro: Hmm… maybe if I go more far out we can hope this water gets deeper….

[Astro tries walking in hopes that the water gets deeper than 1 foot, semi out of frame, we see Finian about to approach the same hole Astro was at before he jumped into the pond. He looks over at Astro and shakes his head before placing his ball down.]

[Astro then turns around and pans the camera at Finian]

Astro: [Calling to Finian] HEY NERDO! HOW'S IT GOING?!

Finian: [swinging his club and calling back, but not as loudly] Because of your silly little endeavor, I'm now winning.

Astro: [Annoyed] AW COME ON MAN, I JUST WANTED TO JUMP IN THE WATER FOR THE VLOG, I NEED A CLICKBAIT-Y THUMBNAIL?!

Finian: [Walking up to the fence and resting on it after scoring another hole in one] You really aren't living up to your reputation are you? I thought you were a highly advanced AI.

Astro: [Pauses] WELL UH…. UH,….. [Pauses] shit he has a point- [Sarcastically] da fuck am I doing guys? [Sighs]

Astro: [Turning around] I'm gonna go see if this shit gets deeper, see ya later Nerdo!

[Astro walks away and continues searching to see if the pond gets deeper than 1 foot. Out of frame, you can see Finian walking away and continuing the game. Further away, Quinn is still close to the beginning of the course and is taking strokes every few moments, slowly moving closer to the hole.]

Astro: [Recapping] So uh… if you couldn't tell, we've gone mini-golfing, rawest shit ever I tell you what!

Astro: But uh… [Burst into hysteria] We-we…..

Astro: OK so we had this bitch at the front desk right? Everything cool and shit 'cuz I mean come on, it's fucking mini-golf, who the fuck doesn't like mini-golf?! [Whispering] Also I'm smooth as fuck and I think she might have gotten a thing for me… I dunno man I can't tell.

Astro: Anyways…. So I'm getting there, say my little "I wanna fucking die but I'm gonna act like I don't" 'hello' I usually give on the daily, ya know, usual shit.

Astro: And ya know, all good, everything's fine and shit, so then she's like "is it just you?" and I'm like "oh no uh… I'm waiting for my dads" And I look at Nerdo and Ginger, then look back at her.

Astro: And [More hysteria] Her….. her [Even more hysteria] her fucking face…. Oh god…. She looked like she just saw Jesus get murdered right in front of her by the devil himself, just so upset and shocked.

Astro: And I'm here like 'jfc Astro u had one fucking job and u fukin ruined it like nghhhhhhh'

Astro: So I'm playing it off like it's all cool, like oh you know, maybe she didn't mean it about them, maybe she thought I looked ugly, which I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and say I haven't showered in three days so ya know… it's cool.

Astro: But then she started giving me more looks, and at this point, I knew it wasn't because I was ugly because she glared at me with those hawk eyes like she has some sorta authority on me, which let's be real- real for a second….

Astro: If I can slice a bitch in 2 in less than a minute, how the fuck is an intimidating look gonna convince me to be frightened like [Sarcasm] "OHHH IM SOOOOOO SCAREEDDDDD SHES GONNA CALL THE FEDS CUZ OHHHH NO LORD FORBID HER EYES EVER SEE SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE SAME WHITEWASHED CISGENDERED HETEROSEXUAL BULLSHIT SHE'S BEEN FED HER WHOLE LIFEEEEE" [Gasp] [Dramatically sarcastic] "How unfortunate… I'm so moved…. So so so so sorry oh god… how terribleeeeeeeee"

Astro: So I call her out on her shit, and then Ginger just runs for it like he's about ready to slice a bitch in two, so I have to put out this flame before she really has a reason to call the feds.

Astro: Then, [Hysteria] Oh my god, Nerdo finally gets there. And holy shit. The man has so much chill that he has no chill. He called this bitch OUT.

Astro: She over charges us so it ends up being like this ridiculous price, so obviously Nerdo is gonna try and reason with this bitch, because who the fuck pays $48 just for fukin' mini-golf? Chumps! That's who. [Muttering] andprobablyrichpeopleimeanidunnoimrambelingokaybacktothestory.

Astro: So I kinda nope out 'cuz the minute I hear numbers and math, especially with Nerdo, I know shits going down.

Astro: So I'm on the sidelines just looking at the golf course from afar whilst also hearing the conversation, and it's going great, stupid ass bitch looking stupid, Nerdo slicing her in fourths because let's face it, he didn't get his PhD at like 18 just to let some homophobic pleb overcharge him on mini-golf.

Astro: So the conversation ends, we get a discount and end up only paying thirty, and then I remember walking in with Ginger and Nerdo turns around and says something to the front desk bitch ahh what was it uhh [Snaps fingers] Oh god what was it uhh…. [Beats forehead with fist]

Astro: I-I can't fucking remember, but uh yeah- moral of the story is: Bitches be stupid and uhh, get your Ph.D., oh- and don't die.

Astro: OH THAT'S RIGHT! He said "It's homo sapiens, not hetero sapiens" DAMN. I gotta use that.I mean I'm not gay- but who the fuck cares, am I right? I don't… I don't know [Shakes head in disappointment]

[The video jump cuts to Astro still in the water but at a later time]

Astro: [Sigh] OK this is getting boring, I needa get the fuck outta h–

…

"Atom?" The door to Atom's bedroom opened.

"Huh?" Atom looked up from his phone, the video he had been watching was now paused.

"Come help set the table," Tenma said into the room before walking away.

"Oh, okay!" Atom put his phone to sleep, then left the room.

He walked into the kitchen to see Tenma cooking in the oven.

"Oooh, that looks nice, you know what you're making?" He asked Tenma.

"Curry chicken."

"Niceeeeeeee." Atom walked away to set the table.

After setting up the table, Atom sat down and attempted to start a bit of small talk.

"So uh… Astro sent me another video he did, apparently, his parents and he went mini-golfing." He began.

"His parents…." Tenma mumbled to himself.

"It's really funny so far- I could show you after dinner?"

"Hmmm. Sure."

"You'll like it, I promise, and if you don't- you don't have to watch it again; so it's a win-win." Atom shrugged.

"We'll see." Tenma chuckled a little before setting a large dish of chicken and rice on the table and walking away to get Cindy.

"Oh… is Cindy coming? Guess so…." Atom peered over.

After dinner, Atom was putting his plate in the sink while talking to Cindy.

"So uh… Astro sent me a new video of his." He turned the water on. "His parents and he went mini-golfing, it's pretty funny so far. Do you think you might wanna watch it? I already have Dad on board with seeing it."

"Oh, I wish I could. But I have a ton of work to do."

"Again?..." Atom pouted.

"Yeah…. Sorry, Atom… I am subscribed to Astro on TubeYou, though. I'll watch it when I have time."

"Oh! Then I guess it's not so bad." He handed her a dish to dry.

Atom left the kitchen after helping Cindy do the dishes, heading off to his room to finish the video.

…

Astro: -ere. Probably gonna walk back.

[Astro walks through more of the water, getting closer and closer to the gate]

Astro: [Places hand on gate] Shit how the fuck am I gonna get out?

[Astro pans the camera to see where the top of the gate is]

Astro: I could try and climb it- but that's too easy… if I'm doing this for the vlog, I gotta go BIG! Do something more interesting than just climbing a gate.

Astro: Maybe if I run and jump for it?

[The video jump cuts to the camera now being placed in the water by the gate as Astro prepares to jump the fence. In his attempts to jump the fence though,

He trips and falls on his face again.]

Astro: Fuck.

[The video then jump cuts to facing Astro again, who is wiping his face]

Astro: Well that was shitty. [Sighs, then groans] UGHHHHHHHHHHHH…. I just wanna get outta hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Astro: Guess I'm camping out here for a while…..

…

Astro stopped recording and still stood in the water, completely bored with himself.

He waited to see if Finian would come back for him, but to his surprise, he saw Quinn finally approaching the hole he had purposely missed.

…

[Astro pans the camera to face the gate as he walks up to it]

Astro: [Pounding on the gate] GINGERR! GINGERRRRRRRR!

[Quinn ignores Astro and makes a stroke with his club]

Astro: GINGER YOU GOTTA HELP ME! I JUMPED INTO THE WATER AND I CAN'T GET OUT! THIS IS LIKE THE OVEN ALL OVER AGAIN! [Pounds more on gate]

Quinn: [Not looking behind him at Astro] GET OUT OF THE FUCKING OVEN, ASTRO.

Astro: [Clearly distressed] UGHHHHHH I CAN'T, THAT'S WHY I'M CALLING YOU!

[Quinn soon finally makes it into the hole, he picks up his golf ball and walks away]

Astro: UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Astro: [Whining] I just wanna get out of here Jesus Christ nghhhhhhhhhhhhh

…

Atom paused the video.

"Oh, no. I forgot to get Tenma so we can watch this together."

He stood up and left his room to look for Tenma.

…

Finian was standing at the end of the course, watching as Quinn finally made his way to the last hole.

"Took you long enough..." He mumbled to himself.

"Hmmm? What was that?" Quinn looked up from his club.

"Oh. Nothing. You're doing great!" He faked a smile and gave his husband a thumbs-up.

Quinn grinned back as he happily took another stroke.

Finian began to fidget as he watched him move the ball 2 inches every time he 'swung' the club and then count the number of strokes he had out loud.

"Ahhhhhh." He walked over to Quinn and stood behind him, placing his hands over his.

"You swing the club like this." Finn moved Quinn's arms and body in a swift motion towards the hole, driving the ball straight into it.

"9."

Finn let go and walked away, trying his best not to scream.

"That's a septuple-bogey, right, Finn?!" Quinn looked over excitedly at the other man.

"Yes. Yes, it is..." Finian rubbed his temples.

"What does the scorecard say?" He held his hand out to Quinn as the man walked up to him.

Quinn happily gave him the small piece of paper and Finn nearly exploded when he saw the ridiculously high score under Quinn's name.

"I know it's pretty bad…. But look how good you did. A perfect score. You even beat Astro!"

Finn looked up at Quinn who was smiling warmly at him. He couldn't help but lean down and give the man a kiss.

Quinn looked up at him in confusion after he pulled away.

"Ah…" Finn cleared his throat. "Sorry… I know I usually don't do that in public… You just looked so… cute…."

Quinn's eyes widened when he saw the man began to blush and pulled him down for another kiss.

"HEY! HEY, GUYS! DID YOU FORGET ABOUT ME!?" Astro called from the pond. "WERE YOU TOO BUSY TRYING TO GET IN HIS PANTS CUZ TWISTER GAME STYLE ANAL DOESN'T SOUND THAT GREAT AT AN MINI-GOLF COURSE- JUST FYI!"

Quinn almost bit Finn's lip in anger and quickly pulled away.

"ASTRO!" He furrowed his brow and put his hands on his hips as he began to walk towards the water.

"Well, at least I got his attention….." Astro shrugged.

"What are you doing?! When did you get in here?! Look at your clothes! They're soaked and disgusting! Who know's what's in that water! Now I have to wash all of this when we get home."

"W-what do you mean? I was screaming at you earlier? Told me to get out of the oven?"

"I was clearly busy concentrating. This game requires optimum levels of focus."

"Wut…."

"Ugh. Can't you get out on your own? This fence is literally 3 feet tall…."

"I could… But I gotta do something extreme for the vlog…."

"I swear to God, I will get in there myself and pull you out of there."

"Wow Astro, you really got him in Mom mode..." Finian added as he finally made his way over.

"Well I mean, Ginger jumping into water is click bait-y enough- I'll take it."

"First the oven, now this?! You're going to be in so much trou-" Quinn got his foot caught as he tried walking over the fence and landed face first into the water.

"Welp, guess he fell in anyways, feel good down there, Ginger?"

Quinn stood up and glared at Astro as water dripped down from his orange curls.

"That's a good look on you..." He chuckled.

Quinn spits out a small fish at Astro and it smacked him right in the face.

"Ew. Oh shit. I don't think I got any of this." Astro looked down at his camera and realized it was turned off.

"When I get my hanDS ON YOU, YOU'RE DEAD." Quinn lunged at Astro.

Astro quickly ran away as Quinn chased him through the water.

"Ok, then. Bye." Finn made his way to the exit.

The two of them paused. "HEY WAIT! DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT ME!" Astro yelled out before making his way out of the water and over the fence, Quinn following close behind him.

…

"Ok. So then Astro jumps into the pond like an idiot. Oh god, it's so funny." Atom chuckled as he walked into his room with Tenma.

"Then he's just walking around in the water trying to see if it gets any deeper, Spoiler alert: it doesn't, and he's explaining this thing that happened at the front desk. You'll have to watch this again later. He explains it way better than I will ever be able to."

"So now he's waiting for someone to help get him out because he's stuck, apparently."

"Sounds exciting." Tenma sat down next to Atom on his bed.

"Of course! All his videos are!" Atom handed him one of his ear buds.

"Ok. Here we go." He pressed the play button on his phone.

…

Astro: [still in the water] HELLOO! Is nobody really gonna help me? [sigh]

[The video suddenly cuts to Astro frantically turning on his camera as he runs through the water and to the fence. He climbs over it and looks back at Quinn behind him. The camera then pans to Finn standing at the exit.]

Astro: [Yelling] CLICKBAITTTTTTTTTTTTT!

Quinn: [Also yelling] ASTRO WHY DO YOU DO THIS?!

[the video focuses back on Astro's face and suddenly pauses, with a 'VCR pause' filter effect.]

Astro: So uh…. Yeah, hello. Think I need to add some context.

[Video cuts to Astro in his room at a later time sitting in a chair at his desk.]

Astro: So… my camera died, which was nice. [Muttering] stupid ass camera.

Astro: Ok, it didn't actually die. It just turned itself off and I didn't realize… ANYWAYS!

Astro: You're probably wondering 'oh Astro-senpai, what could have possibly gone down to make you run like you just saw the devil himself' and to that I say: shut the fuck up.

Astro: I was trying to be all cool and shit 'cuz I need fucking AD revenue to pay for the fuckin' name brand butter crackers I buy at the supermarket, by not making the logical choice and climb out of the water. [Whispering] Also we still gotta pay off that new oven. Shit's expensive.

Astro: [Muttering] Maybe I'm the stupid ass….

Astro: ANYWAYS, so I'm there, chillin', lowkey dying inside but let's be real here, when am I not dying inside?

Astro: And I look off into the distance, I see Nerdo and Ginger just going to town fam, I'm over here like "Well shit hope front desk bitch don't catch them gettin' frisky."

Astro: So I, number one smartass, calls em' out on it. And Ginger just isn't having it- think he lowkey wanted to get friskier but I kinda killed the mood…

Astro: Hold on this is getting really uncomfortable holdup.

[Astro struggles to change his seating position]

Astro: So he's jogging on over like he's about to slice a bitch again. Like: [Astro puts his hands on his hips and swivels his body, trying to mock what Quinn looked like]. I swear to God this guy has temper problems.

Astro: I'm lowkey freaking but I think "You know this is great, I'll get this on film and I'll be rich enough to finally afford Ritzz crackers!"

Astro: And then [Hysteria] He tries…. To get fucking in…. And he just falls in- face down, oh the fucking shame, the fucking irony.

Astro: And did I record it? No…. no I didn't, because fuck you and I'm a stupid assssss [Astro breaks out into more hysteria]

Astro: Then he just starts fucking chasing me. In the water. It was a scene I tell ya!

Astro: So I'm going like fricking Forrest motherfucking Gump just peacing the fuck out because I don't appreciate being on the dinner course menu, despite this being about…. Probably one PM….

Astro: Then Nerdo has the NERVE to try and walk out on me. Like he was literally about to fucking walk out of this place and drive away.

Astro: So I book it. I'm like "GOTTA GO FUCKING FAST" at this fucker.

Astro: And that's when I finally turned my camera back on. So there ya go. Now get the fuck out of my house.

[The video cuts back to Astro running through the course to get to Finn. He finally makes it and is hyperventilating.]

Finn: Hmmm. That was pretty fast…

Astro: [Breathing heavily] Shut… shut the fuck up….I did it for the vlog.

[In the background you can see the front desk lady about to exit her post but she sees Astro and Finn and immediately runs back inside.]

[Quinn finally makes his way to them]

Finn: Ok Good. You're here. We can leave now.

Quinn: [also breathing heavily] Wha?... Oh…. ok…

[As Finn drops off the balls and clubs at the front desk, Astro walks up to the car and opens the door.]

Quinn: [Yelling and running over.] NO! ASTRO STOP! You'll get the car wet!

Astro: So? [pans to car then Quinn] It'll dry….

Quinn: We cannot afford new upholstery for this car. I'm not letting us ruin it with this pond gunk on us. [Quinn looks down at himself and shivers with disgust]

Quinn: Uh…. I think I have some spare towels in the trunk.

[The video cuts to a montage of the three of them getting lunch and ice cream, Quinn and Astro covered in their towels.]

[Now they're in the car again, Astro in the back seat with the camera pointed at him]

Astro: So that was fun. But I'm like super tired now so imma knockout. BYE!

[The camera drops and shows Astro suddenly asleep. The video fades out to the outro.]

…

They finished the video after a few moments passed, Atom looked a bit tired, much like Tenma who seemed anxious to get ready for bed.

"I….I think I'm gonna go to bed, see you tomorrow?" Atom turned his phone off.

"Hm. Yeah. See you tomorrow, Atom." Tenma smiled as he stood up.

"Haha," Atom got up. "Night, Dad." He waved before closing the door behind him.

…

"Ok. Everything is set up. Got my crackers. My water. My laptop. My me… Now I just need….. Hey…. Where's my camera?"

It was the day after the mini-golf trip and Astro was getting ready to edit the video.

After realizing his camera was nowhere to be found in his room, he frantically ran out and looked the apartment over.

"WHERE'S MY CAMERA?! I SWEAR IF I FORGOT IT AT THE ICE CREAM SHOP AND SOME NASTY ASS HOBO STOLE IT IMMA KILL MYSELF!"

He sat down at the table for a moment and sighed, trying to think of where the camera could possibly be.

"It's not in my room… not in the living room… don't think it's in the kitchen… checked the bathroom when I went pee… hmm… God I hope Ginger and Nerdo weren't using it for some weirdo porno..."

Quinn walked into the apartment with bags of groceries in his arms.

"Oh! Hello, Astro!" He smiled when he saw the boy sitting at the kitchen table.

"Sup Ginger, guess you didn't die at the supermarket?" Astro greeted.

"Yup. Oh, by the way, you left this in the backseat." Quinn took Astro's camera out of one of the bags after he set them down on the counter.

Astro gasped. "My baby! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!"

He quickly grabbed the camera from Quinn's hand and ran off to his room.

"Haha! It didn't die!" Once Astro made it back to his room, he looked at the screen and saw that the battery was at 5%.

He sat down in his chair, wheeling it to the desk and rechecking that he had everything.

"Ah. Finally..." He plugged his camera in and moved the files over to his computer.

"Hmmm. What's this last video?" Astro noticed that he didn't recognize the thumbnail of the last video file.

"Oh yeah. I forgot to turn off my camera….." Curious, he clicked on the file and the default video player popped up, automatically playing the clip.

…

"Oh, wow. He went out fast..." Quinn looked behind him to see Astro passed out in the backseat. "Guess today went better than I thought it would…."

"It really was a good idea..." Finian said after a few moments of silence.

"You really think so?!" Quinn tugged excitedly at Finn's sleeve.

"Mmmhmm..." Finn nodded, smiling faintly.

"Wow. That's really reassuring. It took forever for me to figure out where we should go. And even then I was convinced it would go terribly." Quinn laid back in his seat and sighed in relief.

He looked down at the console between their seats and noticed Finn's arm laid across it, his hand almost in the cup holder. Quinn reached over and laid his hand over Finn's.

"So you had fun?" He asked.

"Not necessarily. It wasn't much of a challenge…. But watching you and Astro have a good time made up for it."

"Do you have any idea how much I love you?" Quinn looked up at Finn. ((Okay but me Kaitlyn man…. ~Emily))

"Obviously, I can't read your mind, so no, I don't have any idea." Finn glanced over at Quinn. "But I doubt you love me nearly as much as I love you."

Quinn smiled warmly and tightened his grip on Finn's hand.

Finn lifted his hand, taking Quinn's with it and kissed it.

"I love you more than the score you got today." He joked.

"Ok. No more hand-holding for you." Quinn pulled his hand away as Finn laughed.

Quinn let out a chuckle and soon began to laugh as hard as Finn.

They soon slowed down to small giggles before stopping completely, sighing as they regained their breath.

"Ha. You really are bad at golf, th-."

…

The footage was cut off, the battery in the camera had died.

"Oh nooooooo. I wanted to see if Ginger slapped him in the faceeeeee…." Astro whined.

He sighed. "That was kinda cute tho…." He rested his head on his hand and tried his best not to blush again, like he was as he was watching the video.

"Goddamn. My snoring ruined it tho. Fuck. Now I can't add that to the video. Cute gays doing cute gay stuff always gets good ads…."

((END OF CHAPTER 3!))


	4. The Prequel To Planning

…

"We have to do something... We can't just be sitting around the house all day. We need a vacation but we have no money and these two don't like anything... This is ridiculous!" Quinn paced back and forth across the tile floor.

"Talking to yourself again, Ginger?" Astro walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, look. He's emerged from his cave." Quinn looked over at the boy as he sat down at the kitchen table.

"Um… It's called my room, Mom. Geez."

"I….." Quinn stared at Astro for a moment before sighing.

"Oh god, he's sighing. In that tone. I better get outta here before he roasts my ass." Astro said to himself as he stood up and backed out of the kitchen.

"Ah!" He felt something behind him. He had lived in the apartment long enough to know it wasn't a wall. He looked up to see Finian standing behind him, looking down at him.

"AH! Nerdo! Ginger's being weird do something about it. Thanks. Bye. And uh… don't die."

"Hmm?" Finn looked confused as he saw Astro run to his room.

He turned his head to face Quinn. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes..."

"Oh. Nevermind then." Finn swung around and walked back the way he came.

"Wait. What? HEY! WAIT!" Quinn walked towards Finian but was too late as the man had already walked back into his office.

Quinn sighed again and sat down at the table.

"Guess I'm on my own with this one..." He tapped his fingers on the wooden tabletop as he began to think aloud.

"Where could we go…. Where could we go…."

"The beach? No no. That's a bad idea…. Astro doesn't like being outside for too long, especially when it hot and sandy… Besides, I can imagine Finian now, chasing after us making sure we've slathered on a gallon of SPF 1000 for the 4th time that hour and gluing swimmies to our arms…."

"Maybe we can go downtown? Maybe not. There isn't much in this City and we've been shopping so much it feels like a chore now. We've been to the park so many times too… It's so small compared to Metro City's."

"Oh! What about Metro City?... No. That's stupid what am I thinking… None of us want to go back there…." Quinn shuddered at the thought.

"Is there anything we can do!?" He cried out in frustration before noticing his phone.

"Hmm…." He laid his head down on the table as he googled 'interesting things to do in underground city'.

"The museum? I had no idea there was a museum! Finn would love that!" He lifted his head up and grinned with pride but his smile soon faded. "But Astro would find it boring and complain and end up ruining the whole trip for him…. That leaves out the library too…."

Quinn continued to scroll through his phone.

"There's an aquarium a not too far outside of the city… Maybe that's a little too far… Astro wouldn't be able to take such a long ride. Finn has that irrational fear of clownfish anyways… They're plastered everywhere around those places thanks to..." Quinn looked around before whispering, "Nemo..."

"Oh. There's a mini-golf course about 30 minutes away. That's perfect!" Quinn slammed his phone down on the table. "It'll be a fun challenge for Finn to try and get a hole-in-one every time. And Astro… well, I don't know what Astro thinks of mini-golf… But he's never said anything bad about it!"

"YES! EVERYONE WINS! IT'LL BE SO MUCH FUN! YAAAAYYYYYY!" Quinn stood up and jumped up and down in glee.

"Um. Is he ok?" Astro looked over at Finian, who was hiding with him behind a wall.

"Probably." Finn shrugged.

"I guess that's better than a no…" Astro looked back towards Quinn.

"Don't die!" He whispered, trying not to give away Finn's and his position.

He looked over at Finn again to see him smiling at his husband.

"Welp. Someone's getting laid tonight…. And it ain't me…."

 _ **((END OF CHAPTER 4!))**_


	5. Atom CAN'T Visit

…

White. Everything was white.

Then it was black.

Astro quickly sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Ugh… Not again…." He looked over at the sun seeping through the blinds on his window as his eyes adjusted their exposure.

He pulled his knees up to his chest.

"I hate this..." He groaned as tears fell from his photo-bleached eyes.

…

"Good morning, Astro!" Quinn greeted the boy with a plate of pancakes as he walked into the kitchen.

"Sup, pops…." He sat down at the table and wiped at his eyes again, his eyelids now nearly a bright red.

"What's wrong?" The man frowned.

"Did you ever just wake up out of nowhere, your eyes just suddenly open to the elements, and you get too much light in your eyes and it hurts?" Astro looked up at Quinn with glossy eyes.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

"Huh? What? No! I'm fine! I-I just woke up too fast probably. Darn phone alarm!" Astro smiled nervously.

"Hmm… Well if anything is wrong, don't be afraid to talk to be about. Finn and I are here for you." Quinn smiled and put a hand on Astro's shoulder.

"I'm here for who now?" Finn looked up from a book he was reading.

"Uh… Nothing… Forget about it Nerdo..." Astro waved him off before feeling a buzz in his pocket.

He took his phone out to see that Atom was calling him.

"Uh…. hello?" He confusingly answered.

 _"Oh! Astro, is that you?"_

"Uh.. yeah, think so…."

 _"Oh, great! I just wanted to follow up on what happened yesterday."_

"Oh yeah, you got my video, right?"

 _"Yeah yeah, I even showed it to Tenma. Though he says you should jump from the gate, for better impact."_

Astro tried not to laugh. "He actually wants to put me in severe endangerment? Pffftttt, wait- why am I not shocked about this?"

 _"Well… no… maybe…_ ahhh _, nevermind."_

"Suit yourself." He shrugged.

 _"So uh… I was thinking, if you're not busy, I could come over?"_

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…" Astro looked around. "I mean, I guess. No one's stopping you- but I mean…"

 _"What? Why? Is there a reason I shouldn't?"_

"No… It's just… I dunno fam…. weird."

 _"Why?"_

"Well, ya know… what if you can't handle Ginger's puns? Or…. You fall down a flight of stairs- I'm not responsible for your suicide just so we're clear."

 _"Oh yeah! That's fine! I thought you were gonna say something like you have a really nasty bathroom or you have poltergeists or something…"_

"No no no…" Astro tried not to laugh. "Don't got any of that weird shit here."

 _"But how can you be sure?"_

"Um…. I…. You have a point… Nerdo are there ghosts here?"

"There's no such thing," Finn mumbled from the other side of the table, clearly invested in his novel.

"Says the one reading science fiction… I personally like to keep an open mind to the existence of the supernatural. You never know." Quinn shrugged.

"Bullshit."

"Um. I'll take that as a no..." Astro looked away as he spoke into his phone.

 _"Well, um. Maybe ask Tenma if I can come over."_

"Uh. Why do I have to ask him? I don't wanna talk to that candy-man motherfucker. Who the fuck do you think I am, Atom?"

 _"Uh. I'm just a little scared to ask him…."_

"UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Fine."

 _"Thank you, Astro!"_

"No problem…."

 _"Ah. I have to go now. I'll talk to you later!"_

"Okie Dokie, don't die fam."

 _"Ok! Will do! Bye!"_

"See ya."

Astro ended the call and placed his phone down on the table with a sigh.

"Who's that? Your boyfriend?" Finn looked up from his book again.

"Finn! No! Stop that!... Astro has a girlfriend." Quinn placed his hands on his hips.

"The fuck? Hell no, that's fucking disgusting, he's my twin?"

"Oh… You have a twin?"

"Uhhhh, yeah, I do."

"What… I… So that Atom you've talked about before… Is your twin? But Tenma only made one of you..." Quinn looked at Astro with confusion plastered all over his face.

"Dr. Elefun was working on a cloning project with an old colleague. He used Astro as a non-human test subject. The test worked perfectly and so was created Atom, his 'twin'."

"How… How did you know this and why didn't you tell me?"

"It was in the news…."

Quinn paused for a moment.

"Anyways…. So he wants to come over?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. Just make sure Tenma is ok with it."

"Did. Did you not just hear the conver-... Nevermind..." Astro facepalmed.

"Same…." Finn said, not looking up. "Same."

…

Astro sat down on his bed, his phone not too far from him.

"Okay, all you gotta do is ask if Atom can come- and no puns this time, you gotta make a good impression."

He cleared his throat then dialed Tenma.

"He better pick the fuck up fam." He sat for a moment waiting as he heard the dialing tone.

"No, I don't want to buy your magazine subscription. Goodbye." Tenma picked up his phone and nearly hung it up before he heard a non-automated voice on the other line.

"Ne-UH! HELLO! Shit." Astro greeted.

 _"Astro?"_

"Uh yeah… uh… h-h-hows it going uhh hh hh, Willy Wonka?"

 _"Uh. Good... Why are you-"_

"Das noice and uh… Barbie? She still suck- I mean is she not uh… suc-uh-sick?"

 _"Wait. What-"_

"Eeeeyeah… cool… hey uh… speaking of, not sick and uh… chocolate covered ass, I was wondering if you could let Atom visit say umm, maybe today, or tomorrow, or next week or, sometime within the next millennium?"

 _"No."_

"Aw come on! I'm doing you a favor! Look, you let Atom visit, and you can have all the time to yourself showing Barbie that candy factory of yours- she'll love it, ormaybeshewontonceshecan'tfitintoherweddingdress ANYWAYS! I am doing a common courtesy."

There were a few moments of silence

 _"... No."_ Tenma said in an angrier tone before hanging up.

"Ughhhhhhhhh." Astro leaned back, his head hitting his pillow. "FUCKKKKKKKKKKKK!" He then proceeded to scream loudly.

"I just want my brother to come overrrrrrr. What am I gonna dooooooo?"

"Are you alright? I heard screaming..." Quinn opened the door and peeked in.

"Uhhhhhhhhhh…. Maybe." Astro looked over at Quinn and shrugged.

"Hmmm. Well, like I said earlier, if you need anything, just let me know. I'm here for you." Quinn closed the door behind him as he walked back into the hallway.

Astro looked back up at the ceiling and laid in bed for a few minutes thinking of how he was going to convince Tenma to let Atom come over.

"Hmmm. I think I have an idea..."

…

He got up a few hours later and redialed Tenma's number, this time posing as Quinn.

"Tenma, old buddy! Long time no see! You hear about that man on the news? Apparently, he ate some really bad seafood. Now he feels _ee_ l….. HAHAHAHAHA! So, I heard your kid Atom would like to come over to see my Astro. I wouldn't trust an Atom though…. They _make up everything_ …. HAHAHAHA SCIENCE JOKE! WE CAN BOTH RELATE HAHAHA! So what do ya say? A good ol' playdate for the kiddos?"

 _"Astro. I know that's you..."_

"Haha. What…. Uh, still. Come on. PLEASE."

 _"No."_

"Ugh. Well, I hope your wedding is so bad that even the cake ends up in _tiers_. HAHAHA OH GOD I'M GOOD AT THESE!" Astro rolled around in his bed laughing so hard he felt tears roll down his face.

He heard the phone go silent then checked the screen to see if the call had ended.

"Nghhhhhh." Astro groaned, "Well, at least I got a good laugh…. Ginger would be proud of my puns."

"DADSSSSSSSS!" He cried out into the hallway as he slammed his door open.

"WHAT HAPPENED?! DO YOU NEED MORAL SUPPORT?!" Quinn quickly ran into the hallway.

"ARE YOU INJURED?!" Finn followed closely behind.

"Tenma won't say yeeeessss…." Astro whined as he leaned limply against his doorframe.

"Oh. Ok. Bye." Finian walked away back to his office.

"Wow. Thanks…." Quinn watched him leave then looked back at Astro. "Have you tried asking nicely?"

"I've tried everything! Being nice, being rude, even posing as you! But nothing…."

"Oh. Well, he never even liked me anyways… But has Atom said anything?"

"Uhhh… no.. don't think so."

"Maybe ask him to say something. I'm sure Tenma favors him more."

"Nghh I guess…."

They both heard a loud beep come from the kitchen.

"... MY PEANUT BUTTER BANANA COOKIE CUPCAKES ARE DONE!" Quinn ran away back to the kitchen.

"Your what?... Welp, much support. Very dad." Astro turned around and walked back into his room.

…

"So uh…. You just gotta ask him yourself fam, sorry."

 _"Ah… but…."_

"Sorry fam, I've tried everything, being nice, calling his fiance a fat ass cock sucker, pretending to be Ginger, and nothing."

 _"Hey. Cindy's nice… Don't talk about her like that…."_

"Uhh Atom, from the few weeks I've been living here, I've come to know you can be nice and still give head."

 _"... Astro, be nice..."_

Astro tried not to laugh, his face almost going red. "So uh… y-y-you'll call, right?"

 _"Fine… But only if you stay on the phone with me while I do it… I'm too scared to do it myself."_

"I mean I guess, not like I got plans…" Astro shrugged.

He heard Atom get up, walk down the hallway, and look for Tenma.

 _"There he is…. Hey...Dad?"_

"YO WILLY WONKA! WAZUP DAWG?! HOWS IT GOING?!"

 _"Astro shut up if he knows we're talking he'll say no again..."_ Atom whispered into his phone.

"Ah shit, you're right. Carry on."

 _"Uh. Dad?"_ Atom walked up closer to Tenma.

"Yes, Atom?"

 _"I uh. I wanna go over to Astro's… is that ok?"_

 _"Sorry, Atom but no."_

 _"Oh. Um. Ok…."_ Atom began to walk away.

"Wait, Atom! HEY TENMA!"

 _"Astro? What is it? I told you both 'No'."_

"Okay, but haven't you heard the term four time's a charm? Of course not, you live under a rock."

 _"The answer is still 'no'."_

"Aw come on man, the fuck you gaining by being an asshole? Cuz last time I checked your egos smaller than your miniature sized penis, I mean seriously, how do u top Barbie with that thing?"

 _"You know what?... Fine. You can go over, Atom. I'm done with Astro insulting me with these ridiculous claims…."_ Tenma is heard walking away.

"SUCCESS!" Astro exclaimed.

"I _feel kinda bad though..."_ Atom furrowed his brows.

"Ahhh, he'll get over it fam- I mean he clearly didn't seem so upset about his dick until I pointed it out, says a lot about the guy…"

 _"I know you don't like him because of what he did. But that's in the past now. And he's never done anything to wrong me…. It kinda hurts me to see him like that…."_

"Don't beat yourself up over it Atom, it's not worth it."

 _"... Whatever…. It's not like you'll ever stop anyways..."_

"Hey man. I got him to say yes. That means you can come over. Aren't you happy about that?"

 _"I guess I am…. Actually, now I'm super excited! Do you want me to bring anything?"_

"Whatever you deem appropriate I guess."

 _"Awesome! Well, I better get going now. I'm gonna make you guys some cookies."_

"Oh. Um. I mean Ginger totally isn't making right now or anything…. Hahaha..."

 _"He isn't? Good! Because I bet_ his _would be way better than mine."_

"I… I uh. I wouldn't say that… And I was being- Uh. Nevermind. You make those cookies."

 _"Sure thing! Bye!"_

"Bye! See you Friday!"

 _ **((END OF CHAPTER 5!))**_


	6. Atom CAN Visit

…

Friday, Atom was slated to come in a few hours. With this, the entire family… well _most_ of the family…. got up at an unusually early time and frantically began cleaning the apartment to rid of it's long withstanding dirtiness.

"Finian. Please help us clean up..." Quinn looked over at the couch as he scrubbed the countertop.

"No one said I _had_ to. Besides, it's not my brother coming over." Finn said without taking his eyes away from the book in his lap.

Astro walked out of his room and into the hallway with a small stack of bowls that once held piles of crackers.

"It isn't a matter of you having to, it's a matter of being courteous. Not just to me and Astro, but also to our guest." Quinn placed his hands on his hips as he looked over at his husband again.

"Uhh… I got… _bowls_." Astro piped up, trying not to sound awkward.

"Jesus, were you hiding all of those under your bed? The dishwasher is already running, so go clean them in the sink."

Astro sighed and walked with his bowls to the kitchen sink.

"And when you're done, will you please vacuum."

"Why isn't Dad doing anything to clean?" He looked over at Finian, who was still sitting comfortably on the couch, licking his thumb and turning the pages of his book.

"Because he just _doesn't care_. Way to be a _teenager_ , honey."

"I try my best." Finn smirked.

"Well," Astro turned off the faucet. "As long as he's not dying," He left the kitchen to go find the vacuum.

After finally locating the "infamous vacuum", or so Astro would dub it after spending all of his time trying to look for it, he passed by his room.

Slowly he put his hand to the doorknob and opened the door to reveal the chaotic mess that was his bedroom.

The entire place was practically flipped upside down. Papers from torn out sketchbooks were scattered on the ground, the bed unmade, clothes tossed around in weird places, most of which were dirty. A few cups were left on his desk as well as unsharpened pencils that laid right beside the foot of his office chair.

The complete utter nightmare that was his messy room left him with a strong feeling of death on the inside, as he knew it would be a while until the room would be clean.

…

Atom stood outside the car for a bit as he waited for Tenma to come outside. He held a box in his hand full of the cookies he made just days ago, hoping they would enjoy it, but also that the cookies themselves would hold up to the long drive from Metro City to The Underground City.

He started getting slightly impatient, feeling an urge to pick at the buttons on the sleeve of his flannel, as he typically did while anxious.

Tenma finally made his way out of the door, keys in his hand and a defeated expression on his face.

Atom looked ecstatic, but only to cover up the relief he secretly felt inside since his anxiousness could finally rest.

"Let's go..." Tenma opened the door to the car and got in,

Atom gladly opened the passenger's door and got in as well.

He buckled in his seat belt and held the box of cookies tightly in his hands as Tenma pulled out of the driveway.

"How long do you think it'll take to get there?" He asked.

"An hour, probably." Tenma turned a corner.

"Oh…. sounds a lot longer than I thought…"

"We're driving to an entirely different city than this one, of course there's going to be quite some distance between the two."

"Well, I thought It'd be like forty-five minutes or something… but not an _hour_." Atom sounded shocked.

"Have you not been up there before? Besides, there's lunchtime traffic." Tenma looked over at Atom as he stopped at a red light.

Atom brushed off his remark, looking out the passenger window as houses seemed to fade away as they headed towards the road to the main highway.

After a long, awkwardly silent drive, the two of them pulled up in front of the apartment building.

Astro was waiting by the window to see when Tenma would pull up, when he saw his car, he felt a slight distaste in his mouth that he tried to get over.

Atom, in the moment once the car had stopped, felt that it was OK to get up and leave to go inside. He unbuckled his seatbelt and prepared to leave.

"Haha. Ok see ya later, Dad. I'll call you a few hours before I'm ready to-." He pulled the handle and was about to lunge out of the car when he felt his wrist being grabbed.

"Oh shit! He's gonna rape him!" Astro yelled out, seeing Tenma take Atom by the arm. "Oh wait…. No. They're just talking."

"Atom… I want you to be careful."

"Uh, yeah, haha, can do." He nervously chuckled.

"Stay with Astro at all times and don't let them take you into a room alone. Don't let them touch you strangely. Yell out if they do. Call 911."

"This sounds really homophobic, Dad…." Atom looked sad for a moment.

Tenma froze.

"I'm too gay for this, bye." He went to leave the car again.

"Wait! Atom!" Tenma grabbed him again.

Atom sighed.

"That's not what I meant by that at all… Kenny is a very… _bad_ … man. He did things to robots at the ministry. Things I would never want to happen to you. I'm not sure if he does those things anymore and if he's done them to Astro..."

"Pfffft… It'll be fine! It's just one visit. I promise- I'll try to come back in one solid, mentally ill piece!"

Tenma sighed. "Ok. Just… don't immediately trust them..."

"Ok ok ok. BYE DAAAAAD!" Atom finally jumped out of the car and closed the door behind him before running up to the building.

Astro looked down from the upper floor at Atom who was walking to the front door.

He impulsively decided to flip the bird at Tenma before he drove away.

"HOW'S IT GOING WILLY WONKA? TOO BUSY FEEDING CANDY TO BARBIE?!" he called out to him in a mocking tone.

Tenma put his window up in response.

"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID, RIGHT? I SURE HOPE SO OR ELSE YOU'RE IN THE DEEP END BUD."

"Astro, why are you yelling out the window?" Quinn opened the door to the hallway.

"Willy Wonka just left the building." Astro smirked.

"Oh. Move over then." Quinn walked up to the window.

"BE GONE, DEMON!" He yelled out the window.

"Dad…. He's already gone. You just yelled at an old lady…."

"Oh shit. Mrs. Ainsworth. Yeet." Quinn quickly ran away from the window back to the apartment.

"I'M SORRY, WRINKLY OLD LADY! HAVE A NICE DAY!" Astro yelled before closing the upstairs window.

"Wow. Never thought I'd see an old person angrier than Ele-fart." He headed for the elevator.

Atom stood by the door, not sure how to open it, he set the box down onto the ground and gave the door a good hard look to see how he could open it.

But not even seconds later, he saw Astro leaving the elevator.

Atom tapped on the glass of the door to grab Astro's attention.

Astro made it to the door and opened it for him.

"See you're doing well, Sheldon?" Astro joked.

Atom could not keep a straight face, bursting into slight laughter, but also with a bit of confusion.

"Geez gone for what? A month? And you managed to forget your own nickname? Well shit fam. Guess what? It's pipsqueak now, you're welcome."

"Haha ok."

Astro pressed for an elevator and waited for one to come.

"Oh! So you actually brought the cookies?" Astro looked over at Atom.

"Mmmhmm!" Atom nodded happily.

"Well I mean I can't cook for shit, made spaghetti two nights ago and I got a two dollar Payfriend donation from Ginger asking me to not make spaghetti ever again, what a rude ass, am I right?"

"Same, actually."

"You cook at Willy Wonka's too? Damn, sure sucks to be you…"

"No, I meant I'd pay you not to cook too."

"Well shit."

"But yeah I do cook sometimes. But I like it."

"Well of course you do, not like you have anything better to pass the time." The elevator finally opened.

"I… have a boyfriend? It's not like I'm bored 24/7."

"LOL no shit pipsqueak, didn't you come out like a year ago? Wait no, less than that? More? I honestly can't keep up with you."

"You really haven't changed, have you?" Atom chuckled.

"Why? Can you tell? Oh no!" Astro pretended to be shocked.

Astro slowly opened the door to the apartment after giving said door a gentle knock.

"Henlo? Your wonderful child is here with their genetically produced sibling!" Astro greeted.

"But… we're robots..."

"Sssssh!"

"Uh…. Is he ok?" Atom looked to the floor to see Quinn passed out on the carpet.

"He cleaned too much." Kenny said, turning the page again as Quinn groaned.

"Don't worry about him." Astro waved his hand. "He was up all night planning this big house cleaning."

"Oh, uh, that's…. Cool."

"I'm… Ok…." Quinn said, his voice muffled by the carpet.

"Ummmm, I brought cookies..." Atom tried to lighten the awkward tone of the room. "...Made them myself."

"Cookies?" Quinn smiled as he tried propping himself up but failed and fell face-flat back into the carpet.

"...Nevermind I'm just gonna take a nap….."

"Well I guess you could just leave it there for now." Astro walked away, trying not to step on Quinn as he made his way to his room.

Atom followed close behind, but stopped to introduce himself to Quinn and Finian, then continued on to Astro's room.

Astro was already plopped onto his bed playing with his P-phone as he waited for Atom to walk in.

"Geez, you really gotta go all out with the hellos? I'm gonna be straight up, okay? None of us are classy here, we just say hi and then go back to internally suffering. No biggie." Astro shrugged.

"All I said was 'Hello. I'm Atom. Nice to meet you'..."

"Yeah, that's too fancy. You're better off just saying hi and dabbing away, it's more hilarious that way."

Atom laughed as he sat on Astro's bed.

"So uh, lemme in on da scoop boi, how's Willy Wonka? Is he too busy feeding Barbie candy that you've subsequently been neglected?" Astro asked.

"Uh. No. Things are actually great back home."

"I feel like you're lying but I'm gonna roll with it because yeah."

"I hear he's marrying her, hmmm? Sounds like a disaster if you ask me."

"Oh. Yeah. The wedding's in a few months. I'm… um… actually really excited for it." Atom smiled and blushed as he looked down at the carpet.

"Don't get your hopes up pipsqueak, all marriages lead to divorce, and if it doesn't, well then you end up like these two." Astro pointed towards the living room.

"I doubt that. They love each other too much." ((I'm hoping Atom is referring to the divorce part of Astro's statement bc if not…. hmmm…. ~Emily))

"Yeah, and I love tomato soup too much, but you don't see me going around professing my love for it."

"But you'd marry it if you could." Atom smirked.

"No, that would be a disservice to Brianna." Astro folded his arms with a snooty expression.

"I thought you two broke up..."

"No no, it's just a long distance thing now, no biggie."

"Mmmmmmm. Sure."

"Hey you shut the fuck up pipsqueak, you don't see me talking smack about you and emo boi." Astro jokingly threatened.

"Because our relationship is so much better, obviously."

"Nghhhh." Astro folded his arms.

"Yeah. That's what I thought."

Astro couldn't help but burst into a snicker.

"So uh… how's it for you?" Atom giggled.

"Oh! Uh, pretty gud. Still dying inside but you know, _they don't needa know that_ and uh, when am I uh… _not_ dead inside, hmm?"

"Wow. Thanks for the thrilling update."

"You're welcome."

Lunchtime rolled around and Astro was sitting at the table not giving a care in the world, as he usually did on the daily.

Atom, on the other hand due to living at Tenma's for so long, was actually quite willing to help when needed to set the table and whatnot.

"Kinda wish we ate _my_ spaghetti." Astro muttered, scrolling through his phone.

"I will give you 5 dollars without hesitation." Quinn looked at Astro.

"Hey! My spaghetti tastes good and you know it! You just gotta... Warm up to it, it's an _acquired_ taste."

"You can't make spaghetti with tomato soup, Astro."

"Hey I threw in the meatball and single noodle- that counts!"

"The meatball was still frozen. And you opened the package of IKEA swedish meatballs for nothing."

"Well I never claimed to be a professional." Astro muttered again with folded arms.

"And you never even cooked the pasta. It was just an uncooked spaghetti noodle and a frozen meatball sitting in cold tomato so-"

"OK I GET IT."

Atom burst into laughter, holding his stomach he was laughing so hard.

He then after stopping, went to picking at the buttons on the sleeve of his flannel.

"You okay there Atom? Don't wanna rip a button off your clothes…" Astro asked with a slight chuckle.

"Oh. Uh. Yeah yeah. I'm fine. Haha." He laughed nervously.

"Suit yourself." Astro shrugged.

Atom awkwardly sat down in front of him at the table, trying to hide the sudden wave of anxiety he had wash over him.

Astro burst into hysteria as he was suddenly reminded of a memory that popped into his mind.

"Atom… Atom… d-d-do you... _Remember_ , that time, wh-when you tripped over the rug, and- and- you flipped over that p-plate of spaghetti? _And it got all over you and the floor and the table_?"

" _Eeeeyeahhhh_ , Brianna was _sure_ to kill me after that, as if she hadn't done so already- figuratively, that is."

"Well you know, she's got a temper…" Astro shrugged.

"Okay but you should've _seen_ her- she looked so upset. I'm sitting on the floor, spaghetti all over, more confused than I've ever been my entire life! And she just _glares_ at me! Looked like she was gonna knock me out in one swing with all that disappointment and _anger_."

" _It was hilarious!"_

"Well maybe for you." Atom pouted, "But it really ruined my day."

"When did she _not_ ruin your day?"

Atom sighed, "Fair point, fair point."

Astro was the first to finish his plate, getting up from the table, he put the plate in the sink, then headed for his room after dusting off his hands.

He sat back down on his bed, preparing to grab his phone from right beside him.

"That actually wasn't that bad." Atom began as he walked in after he too finished his lunch.

"Eh. My spaghetti would've been better." Astro folded his arms.

Atom sighed, "I think it was for the best we didn't have your spaghetti…." He sat down next to Astro.

"Speaking of spaghetti- what was up with the whole 'button picking' thing? You looked like you were getting ready to just rip the damn thing off."

"Oh." Atom almost froze.

"I-I-I uh… do that, uhhhhhhhh, sometimes… when I get anxious….."

"Like now?"

Atom pulled his hand away from his flannel, "Maybe."

"Well it's uh, nothing to get worked up about, trust me I have worse going on right now."

"Oh? Really? You wanna.. talk about it?"

"I-I guess…"

"...I've been getting these... _nightmares_ \- really bad. I-I… I haven't been able to get any sleep because I'm just so emotionally drained when I get up, it's- it's a problem"

"Well, why don't you tell your dads? They seem like they would be able to help."

"Haha, Are you _kidding_ me Atom?! Me tell _them_? And let my borders come down? I think the fuck not!"

"Well how else are you going to get better? You have to say something eventually, even if it does mean losing a bit of pride and gaining a bit of vulnerability."

Astro sighed.

"It's better to be out and open about your problems than hide them. I mean I spoke up and look! I'm officially diagnosed with a legitimate mental illness. Which, isn't fun. But it does give me the freedom to be open because there's no reason for me to hide."

Astro looked over at him, "I guess." He shrugged with a yawn.

"I uh…" Atom stood up, "Have to pee- I'll be back." He left the room.

As Astro was left alone in his room, he impulsively lied down on his bed and knocked out.

Atom came back not too long after, opening the door to Astro's room.

"I'm ba-"

He saw Astro had passed out on his bed, fast asleep.

Atom sighed with a bit of awkwardness as he now realized there was nothing he could do.

He closed the door to Astro's room to give Astro a bit of privacy while he slept. He stood outside the door for a moment because he had no idea what to do. He thought of heeding Tenma's warning and not _really_ make attempts at talking to Astro's dads, but at the same time, what else was he to do while Astro slept?

He began picking at his buttons again but soon realized and pulled his hand away from his sleeve. He sighed, feeling a sort of deep confliction within. Does he just sit by Astro's door and wait until he wakes up? Or does he make attempts at conversing with the other people of the household, despite what his father had said about them.

"I mean… from what I've seen so far, they _are_ a little weird… but they can't be as bad as he's saying they are..." Atom whispered to himself and began to walk towards the living room.

He stopped at the end of the hallway to see Quinn at the kitchen sink, wiping it down vigorously with a sponge.

"Quinn, dear…. Is this really necessary? I don't want you passing out again." Finn was looking over the couch at his husband.

"There's dirty dishes, the sink has tomato sauce all over it now, and don't even get me started on how many spots I missed this morning. Besides, we've been together for what? 15 years give or take? You know how I am."

"Yes I 'know how you are', though you never seem to want to take a rest despite your obvious exhaustion."

"I'm not _exhausted_. I just like taking spontaneous naps, is all."

"I uh… I can help you." Atom quiety said, his voice cracking midway through the sentence.

The two men turned their heads to the hallway, then looked back at each other.

"Oh. Um. Sure! You can help if you'd like." Quinn smiled at the boy.

Atom awkwardly smiled back, walking into the kitchen.

"Employing child slaves to do your work now, I see." Finn joked.

"You wish _you_ could do that. At least now you don't have to help."

"Who said I was going to?"

"You know what-" Quinn was about to take a towel and smack his husband in the back of the head with it when he noticed Atom standing in the middle of the kitchen, picking the buttons on his sleeve.

Atom looked confused, cleaning had been something of the norm at Tenma's, was this somehow not something they did here? And why was Quinn so ready to take a swing at Finian?

"Oh. You wanted to help. Right. Umm..." The man looked around the kitchen, trying to find a job to give the kid standing in front of him. "Sorry. Usually I'm the only one who cleans around here. Can't think of anything to give you on the spot."

Atom quickly realized he was picking at the button on his sleeve yet again, he pulled his hand away in response. "Oh! Uh… it's okay." He replied.

"You could clean out the oven. No that's a little too much to ask of you. Or you could clean the counters…. Although I already did them 12 times so far today…. Maybe you could…." Quinn looked over at Atom again. "Actually...It feels really inhospitable to have a guest do any physical labor…."

"Oh, uh, no no- it's fine with me. I-I clean at home, it's nothing, really." Atom started making flicking motions with his fingers to bite the urge to pick at the buttons on his flannel sleeve.

"Everything looks perfectly clean from here. I don't see the point in _anyone_ doing any cleaning." Finian looked over the couch.

"Fine. I give up." His husband sighed and placed the towel in his hand on the countertop before walking over and sitting on the couch, his arms crossed.

Finn gladly draped his arm over Quinn's shoulders.

Atom didn't know what to do, does he sit down and try to talk to them? Does he awkwardly leave to check up on Astro? Does he call Tenma to just come get him since there really wasn't much going on? It was almost like now finally, his anxiety was shooting through the roof as the awkward paranoia settled in.

Finian looked over at him. Atom's heart stopped at the man's cold gaze.

"Are you going to come over and talk or are you going to stand there and collect dust?" He smirked.

At this point, Atom might as well have broken out into a full on sweat, but thankfully he managed to pull himself together and sit at the table near them, turning the seat around to face them.

"So where is Astro?" Quinn's pout faded and turned back into a friendly smile.

"Oh, uh- he went to sleep."

"Ah. Guess that explains why he isn't with you."

"Yeah, it's better to just leave him alone when he naps, I should know." Atom shuddered with an unamused expression as he called back to his prior memories of living with Astro in that godforsaken apartment with Brianna.

"So. How is it at home with… um… Willy Wonka? That's his name, right, honey?" Quinn looked over at his husband.

Finn facepalmed.

"It's 'Tenma', dear…."

"Oh… shit..." Quinn said under his breath as his face turned red.

Atom tried not to laugh, "So, calling him that isn't just an Astro thing here?"

"No. He just forgot his name..." Finn tried not to laugh as Quinn buried his face in his hands.

"Oh, uh, that's cool- I forget things all the time too, haha…"

"His experience with Tenma was just so traumatic that he didn't bother to remember anything about him." Finian smiled sarcastically as he playfully patted his husband's back

"Oh, I've heard." Atom recalled back to the conversation he had in the car not too long ago, as well as the conversation back at his house almost a month ago back when they were still tracking Astro down.

"Ah. I see. You know a little bit about us then, don't you."

"Well, only what people have told me, I can't speak from first hand accounts." Atom shrugged.

"People have biases, boy. Don't you forget tha-" Quinn smacked his husband in the stomach with the back of his hand, interrupting him.

"Shut up. You were a terrible person back then and you know it. Don't listen to him, Atom. People can change. Now he's just a friendly ol' string bean." He pulled Finn's face down to his and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You're ruining my evil ambience."

Atom almost chuckled, "Reminds me a lot of Tenma and his fiancé."

"Oh. Barbie?" Quinn looked at Atom.

"QUINN. NO." Finn facepalmed again.

"What? Don't tell me her name isn't 'Barbie'..."

"That's another nickname, sorry…" Atom replied.

"Her name is Cindy Claire."

"What? How do you know? You don't even know who she is." Quinn looked at his husband with a furrowed brow.

Finn shrugged.

"Oh really? I've been impulsively calling her 'mom' this whole time."

"You… you don't even know her name either?... What the fuck, Finian? Have you been stalking Tenma… again?"

"... No…"

"That lowkey sounds pretty invasive." Atom had a look of disapproval on his face.

"I've told him to stay out of people's business, but he never listens. I'm sorry if this is troubling to you. It is to me, too, to be honest." Quinn looked at Atom again.

"Well, I mean not to be selfish, but it's really not _my_ personal business being invaded, so I'm really not hurt. I just like looking out for others, is all."

"I'll try not to next time..."

"' _Next time'_? What is that supposed to-"

"Have any hobbies, Atom." Finn interrupted his husband.

"Uh… I do photography… sometimes."

"Ah. Interesting how you and Astro are into the Arts."

"Oh, yeah, but career wise is where we differ, I actually intend to pursue a creative career, while Astro is only doing it for fun."

"It's fitting that Astro wants to take on biology, since we both went for something science related as well." Quinn smiled.

Atom felt his anxiety slowly slip away as he became more comfortable with Astro's dads.

"So what is it that you guys do?"

The two men froze.

"Uh. We… um..." Quinn looked at Finian.

"Oh… Ah… Um... We are-"

"Sup bitches. It is I. Awoken from my restful slumber, and as beautiful as ever." Astro walked into the room and posed against the wall, yawning.

"You're lucky I didn't come in and disturb you- or else we would've had the huge fiasco that was 3 months ago all over again." Atom looked at him.

Astro decided to just sit on the floor next to the coffee table.

Atom looked over at the counter to see his box of cookies still left untouched, "Oh, my cookies!" he got up.

"That sounds like a failed attempt at making an 'out-of-context' joke." Astro rubbed his forehead.

"Oooooo. Maybe we should have some milk with them. What do you think, Atom?" Quinn turned to the kitchen where Atom was grabbing the container off the counter.

"I'm cool with it."

"But like… when u think about it…. Isn't milk just like… _cow semen_ , or is that something else entirely?" Astro watched Quinn as he stood up and walked to the refrigerator.

"Does semen come out of your nipples, Astro?" Finn squinted at him.

"How should I know- does it look like I got nipples?!"

"I thought you liked biology. Wouldn't you know that semen is entirely different from milk?" Quinn looked over at Astro as he grabbed the carton of milk.

"Not when you read porn… that's for sure…"

"You read _what_?"

"What?"

"He said he reads porn, Quinn. P. O. R. N. Don't tell me your hearing is going… I don't want an old deaf husband."

Atom was pretty close to face palming.

"I'm just going to pretend that you didn't say you read porn." Quinn handed Astro a glass of milk.

"Nah fam, now after hearing this- I can't think of milk the same way, no no no no." He set the cup down onto the ground.

"MILK IS NOT SEMEN ASTRO. MILK DOESN'T COME OUT OF YOUR PENIS."

"Okay but still, I'm done. No milk for me."

"This is the best conversation we've had in about a week." Finian smiled as he took his glass of milk from his husband.

"God, I'm glad I don't live here." Atom whispered to himself as he brought the cookies over, despite now being fully convinced every one of them was whacko.

"Don't worry, it gets weirder." Astro muttered in response.

"So what kind are they?" He watched as Atom opened the box.

"Oh, uh… I think half is chocolate, and the other is oatmeal raisin."

"Ew. Who do you think we are Atom? A bunch of shriveled up old ladies or something? I don't see us popping advils and knitting sweaters for our grandsons over here." Astro grimaced.

"Do you not want them?" Atom put the lid on the box, "I can just give these to my boyfriend."

"No no no. I'm sure they're great!" Quinn laughed nervously. "Have some manners, Astro."

"Don't worry, he's just being sarcastic, as was I." Atom removed the lid again.

"Good. I still wanted the chocolate ones." Astro tried grabbing at the box from where he was sitting.

"Oh. Well, you can still save some for your boyfriend, too." Quinn offered with a smile.

"Nah, it's okay. His mom's already driving him nuts with all kinds of desserts. Too many sweets for the poor soul..." Atom sighed in disappointment.

"Speaking of boyfriend..." Astro chewed the bite he took of the cookie. "...How is he? He's still alive, right?" Astro asked.

Atom would've slapped him silly if he didn't have any manners, so thankfully he decided to just glare at him instead.

"Yes, he's still alive…" he muttered.

"So… you have a boyfriend." Quinn looked over at Atom. "I didn't know you were… gay? Bi?"

"Gay." Atom smiled. "We've been together for about… hmmmm… four months, give or take?"

"How _exciting_." Astro raised his eyebrows as he spoke with sarcasm.

"It is!" Atom exclaimed, "I honestly thought it wasn't gonna work out."

"I haven't seen him in _weeks_ , I really should though." He sighed.

"What's stopping you? It's not like you live 100 miles away from each other like me and Brianna..."

"Oh! Well, I've been getting situated at home. Just got diagnosed with a mental illness so I've been coping with that which is _so_ fun, and uh, we just haven't…. _made plans_."

"Hmmm, maybe I'll call him on my way home, that is if he's not busy playing _Overwatch_."

"You know what _we_ should do?" Astro shoved another cookie into his mouth. "Play a board game. I'm totally in the mood for it."

"I like the strategic quality of board games, though I always end up losing, shame…" Atom shook his head.

"Probably 'cause you're always playing against smartass Willy Wonka."

"That's the most positive thing you've said about Tenma since December."

"Oh shit. I mean. Um... _Because he's always cheating_ …. HA!"

"And I've been shown up again, oh no." Atom monotonically replied with sarcasm.

"Well, imma go try and find a game. BRB!" Astro got up and ran to his room.

"... So….. why does he call him 'Willy Wonka'?" Quinn asked, breaking the silence.

"He gives everyone a nickname, the point originally was to ensure he was being as offensive as possible, but I think now it's just amusing for him."

"But why 'Willy Wonka' of all things?"

"I dunno. I'm pipsqueak so…" Atom shrugged.

"I'm El Nerdo." Finn leaned over and grabbed another cookie.

"Ah. Yeah. He calls me 'Ginger', I think."

"That one sounds a bit more literal." Atom replied, looking at Quinn's hair.

"I FOUND THE SECOND BEST STRATEGIC GAME AFTER MONOPOLY BUT WE PLAYED THAT ONE RECENTLY." Astro ran back in, waving a small box of Uno cards around.

"Oh. Your dads wanna know 'why "Willy Wonka" of all things.'" Atom began.

"Pfft, duh, Barbie was dissatisfied with Ken so she had to go to the true source™ to obtain quality Sugar Daddy Material™, and everyone knows Willy Wonka is where it's at." Astro sat down on the floor.

"But why is Cindy 'Barbie'?"

"The real question is… why is she _not_? Food for thought…"

"I dunno, maybe 'cause she's an _actual person_."

"No no no- y-you're missing the point, Atom. Cindy is really only in this because otherwise she'd just go back to being alone and suffering. _But_ , if she _finesses_ a man, she's in good luck my dood."

"I think you're assuming things about people that aren't true."

"Okay yeah, and? Not like _they_ seem to care. Everyone knows I'm crude and that's the end of it."

"Last time I checked, people do care."

Astro sighed, "Look Atom, we went over this _months_ ago, you already know my stance and opinions of and on other people, this isn't anything new."

"Ok. This is enough. Astro is an asshole, Atom is overly-sympathetic, Quinn is an idiot, and I'm a lazy piece of shit. Now that I've stated the obvious, and now that we all know each other, can we please just play some fucking Uno?" Finian grabbed the box of cards and opened it up, dumping its contents out onto the coffee table.

"Well, at least he's being honest." Astro joked.

"I like to think that it's my best quality."

"Ugh, why'd you do this? Now half the cards are on the floor and it's going to be impossible to get them all in a neat deck." Quinn complained as he leaned down and grabbed multiple cards from the carpet.

Astro reached out and grabbed 7 random cards. "Nah, it's more like an easy way to shuffle."

Quinn sighed as Atom and Finn copied Astro and grabbed cards.

"I'll go first!" Astro slammed a card down on the table.

…

After a few hours of playing Uno™, Atom felt a buzz in his pocket. He pulled out his phone to see he got a text message from Tenma.

 _ **Dad**_

 _It's getting late so I'm coming to pick you up. Be there in an hour._

"Aw, and just when it was getting to the good part." Atom frowned, setting his phone down on the table.

"Hmmm?" Astro looked over.

"Tenma." Atom slid his phone over to Astro.

"Wow, texting sure does take the emotion out of words, at first glance he _really_ sounds like a douchebag." Astro commented as he read the text message.

"I think that's just the way you interpret his voice in your head."

"Well at least he doesn't text in all caps….."

"Or in cry-type."

"Ooooo, _Brianna_ texts me in cry-type when she's pissed at me, no no no, not fun, not fun." Astro shook a finger.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt."

"Eh, not really, I can't even read cry-type so I just act like I'm hurt when really I'm just confused." Astro shrugged.

"Uno." Finian said as he placed his second to last card down.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit. I don't have any red cards." Quinn frantically pulled cards from the deck, adding more and more to the 10s of cards already in his hand. "No no no no noooooooo"

Atom slowly started fiddling with his button again.

"You're playing with it again." Astro pointed out.

"Stop!" Atom angrily muttered, "I literally have no other option to deal with my anxiety."

"Well I mean if you got _professionally diagnosed_ you'd think they'd offer you shit to help combat it, I mean seriously where'd you get diagnosed, the back alley of Wallmurt?"

"Uh no, Tenma did so uh, his house." Atom put a card down.

"Interesting…" Astro put a card down as well.

"Well I win… again." Finn put his last card down with a smirk.

Astro sighed in defeat.

"So, when do you have to leave?" Quinn asked Atom as he collected the cards and shuffled them.

"Oh." Atom slid his phone over, "He's coming in an hour, I thin-" He looked over and saw he actually managed to pull the button off his sleeve.

"Hmmmm. We probably have enough time for you to have dinner with us."

"Uhhh… yeah, yeah. Mmmhmmm."

"What would you like?"

"Ummm- anything! All food is good."

"Shouldn't have played with it." Astro stood up, shaking his head as he walked away to his room.

Atom sighed.

"What's wrong?" Quinn looked up.

"It's… nothing." Atom shoved the button into his pocket.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah yeah, I can just… go home and sort it out, I guess."

"I can sew it back on for you if you want."

"It's fine, I can just have my mom sew it when I get home." Atom shrugged.

"Oh. Well, I have a sewing kit here if you change your mind." Quinn smiled and put the cards into the box.

Atom looked down at the table, resting his head in hand and making circles with his index finger "Stupid anxiety…" he muttered.

"We had leftover spaghetti for lunch. So how about take out tonight?" Quinn got up and headed over to the counter.

"Yeah." Atom shrugged with a smile.

Finian nodded and picked up his book from the end table, opening it to the last page he was on.

Quinn picked up his P-phone and speed dialed the Chinese restaurant down the street.

Atom got up, taking his flannel off and leaving it on the table, along with the button that had ripped off and left to go see Astro.

Quinn looked over and smiled as he ordered a pint of chow mein.

Atom opened the door to Astro's room to see him sitting by his computer, with a few things set out on his desk.

"Hey." Astro greeted.

"H-hi." Atom sat down on Astro's bed.

"Look, I get you're a bit paranoid, new environment, yadda yadda- but… can you try and not let it get the best of you? I'm serious now… you don't wanna be me later down the line." Astro looked over at him.

"Astro…" Atom sighed. "This has nothing to do with you, okay? I have no control over what makes me anxious, I can try and stop the anxiety before it boils into an attack, but I can't just stop _what_ makes me anxious in the first place."

"I know but... You… you mean a lot to me, and… behind the jokes, you know, _behind_ … the crudeness-I-I-I… I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Really, I just want you to be good and do good and have good go your way because I care." Astro tried to not let his eyes water.

"Hey, but, it's fine. I'm okay! Really!"

Astro sighed again, he didn't want to tear up, but he knew eventually he would.

"But even still, it just- it fucks me up okay? Really- it does."

"I'll try. It's the least I can do, but I'll try my best."

Astro nodded with watery eyes, he turned his chair back around to face his laptop again, seemingly hiding the sadness he had.

Atom brought his knees up to his chest.

Astro brought his hand up to wipe the few tears that he so desperately tried to not shed.

He soon just got up and sat down next to Atom on his bed.

"You okay?" It was obvious now that he was trying to avoid crying.

"Yeah. Just….. thinking."

"I think a lot too, probably too much now that I'm aware."

Atom glanced over at him.

"I-I- uh…. I really don't like getting emotional, I hate it a lot. Not only is it a big hassle but it also just… puts me in a position I don't wanna be in. It's better to act like you're a stone-cold asshole than a two year-old baby."

Atom hesitated for a moment, "May... may–I–I... um...?"

Astro gave in with a slight nod,

Atom then slowly put his arms around him and hugged him tightly.

Astro let a few tears escape as he welcomed Atom's hug.

"Just… promise me you'll be okay, and… don't let people push you around… and uh… be clear with your intentions."

"I promise." Atom chuckled.

"Good 'cause if you don't imma beat your ass." Astro joked.

"I'd like to see you try, tough guy."

Astro rolled his eyes as Atom broke off the hug, leaving to just stare at him in slight awe for a bit without even realizing.

"Uh… Astro?" Atom became alarmingly concerned with Astro's staring.

"OH! Uh… my bad uh. You know, haha- my dealio… yeah." Astro became instantly embarrassed. "Just zoned out a bit hahahaha."

"Haha. Ok, weirdo." Atom smirked.

"Hgnnnn it's not my fault! I don't enjoy being mocked for this." Astro folded his arms with rosy cheeks. "Especially when I can't help it."

"Alright. I get it." Atom backed off with a chuckle.

"Thank you, and thus here is an honorary 110% platonic, 0 romance for 100000 miles, pat on the back." He pat Atom's back awkwardly.

"Yup. This is normal." Atom looked away.

Astro subsequently got up and went back to sitting at his desk.

...

Atom was helping to clear off the table after dinner when he heard a honk from the street downstairs.

"Oh. Is that him?" He looked around to see if there was a window to see out of.

"I think so." Astro got up from the couch and walked to the front door. "Lemme check."

"It's been an hour? That was a fast hour…." Atom looked down his phone after he pulled it out of his pocket.

"YEAH IT'S THE CANDY-MOBILE!" Astro yelled from the hallway.

Atom sighed. "Well, better get ready to go."

He looked around and saw his container sitting on the counter, all clean and with the lid on tight. Obviously done by Quinn.

"I think that's all I brought…" He headed to the door to see if Astro was still in the hallway.

"Wait! Don't forget this." Quinn rushed over to Atom and handed him his flannel, folded nicely.

"I sewed it on really well. And I reinforced all the other buttons too. It'll be a while until they come off." He whispered.

"Thank you." Atom smiled warmly before giving Quinn a big hug.

"No problem!"

"It was great meeting you guys! I hope I can come back soon." Atom looked over at Finian, who was walking over to where they were standing, and then back at Quinn.

"We'd be glad to have you back. You're the perfect guest."

Finn finally made his way over but was surprised to see Atom immediately go in for a hug. He held his hand out, stopping him.

"Goodbye, Atom." He moved his hand as if asking Atom to shake it. But he avoided the hand and hugged Finn anyways.

"Bye… _El Nerdo._ " Atom chuckled and broke away from the hug.

"Okie dokie. Let's go. Don't want to keep the Chocolate Man waiting. If he gets angry, he sends his oompa loompas after you. And those things are ruthless little murders." Astro motioned for Atom to follow him out the door.

"Bye!" Atom waved goodbye as he walked with Astro into the hallway.

"Well that was more fun than I expected it to be." Atom watched as Astro called the elevator.

"You seriously need to come back again sometime, probably when we actually go out places instead of hanging at home like depressed Tumble users." Astro joked as the elevator opened and they walked inside.

"I dunno, I kinda liked just chilling at home." Atom looked down and inspected his newly threaded buttons.

"You say that now, but I thought the same thing too. That is, until we went mini-golfing. That changed everything."

Atom laughed. "Maybe we can figure something out next time."

The elevator came to a stop and they both got out.

"I'm gonna miss you." Atom looked at Astro.

"You can just call me, dummy."

"Yeah, but this is different."

"I know… Try talking him into letting you over again soon, ok?"

"Mmmhmmm." Atom nodded with a smile before bringing Astro in for a hug.

"You're being really generous with the hugs today, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I'm just feeling really happy."

They broke up the hug and walked to the front door of the building.

"Whelp, this is it, your venture off into hell." Astro held the door open for Atom to leave.

Atom rolled his eyes as he headed out the door.

"BYE ASTRO!" He waved.

"SEE YA! AND DON'T DIEEEEE!" Astro waved before flipping the bird yet again at Tenma.

"DON'T INVITE HIM INTO YOUR ROOM WHEN YOU'RE BUSY MAKING YOUR CHOCOLATE WILLY WONKA! THAT'S UNHYGIENIC!" He called out before closing the door and beginning to laugh uncontrollably.

Tenma looked just as annoyed as he did when Astro spoke to him earlier that day.

He laughed as he walked back over to the elevator.

He walked back into the apartment to see his two dads sitting on the couch again.

"Whelp, that's probably the last time I'll ever see him again." Astro commented.

"What do you mean?" Quinn looked over at him.

"Pfffft, do you _really_ think Willy Wonka is gonna let him come back?"

"He let him come this time. Nothing bad happened, either."

"Well yeah but do you know how hard it was to convince him to say yes? I had to tell him his penis was small!"

"Maybe he'll have a change of heart."

"I know you like to think that people can change, Quinnley, but this man is different." Finn said as he changed the channel on the TV.

"I like 'Ginger' better," Astro joked.

Finn rolled his eyes. "If he let's Atom visit again, it will be a miracle."

"And then Astro was talking about this 'spaghetti' he made a few nights ago, he said Ginger gave him a two dollar Payfriend donation to tell him not to make spaghetti ever again." Atom looked over at Tenma with a smirk.

"Of course he still hasn't taken the time to learn how to properly cook…." Tenma glared, his eyes still fixed on the road.

"I think he was just doing it as a joke, I mean come on- who makes spaghetti with tomato soup?!"

"They really should be teaching him basic human skills, unless they don't know how to cook either… If then, what could they possibly be wasting their time doing?"

"No no, we had _actual_ spaghetti for lunch, and it was good, we talked a bit about the old apartment with Astro and Brianna and how hummus is made, there's a video on TubeYou about it, apparently."

"And then me and Astro talked again, and then he has the _nerve_ to take a nap while I'm away in the bathroom? I left him alone because I've sure learned my lesson on not waking him up- but it was really awkward just _standing around_ because I had no idea what to do."

Atom looked over at Tenma for a moment. "So then I talked to them for a while. They're actually really nice, and goofy." He chuckled.

"Ginger called Nerdo a friendly string bean, which is honestly the gayest thing I've heard all day so far, so that was refreshing."

"'Ginger'? 'Nerdo'? What is that supposed to mean?" Tenma grimaced.

"Oh! Uh… Astro- he uh, he gives everyone a nickname… He calls Quinn 'Ginger' 'cause… he's well… a redhead, so. And he calls his other Dad 'El Nerdo'. I'm not sure why he calls him that. Maybe because he looks nerdy? I still don't know _that_ much about them two…."

"Oh that reminds me. Astro also explained why he called you and Mom 'Willy Wonka' and 'Barbie'!"

"Why does he?" Tenma looked over at Atom with an angry look on his face.

"Uh. Um. I…. I…. you wouldn't like-. Um….. I _forget_ …." Atom looked around nervously.

Tenma sighed. "Well, it sounds like you actually had a decent time there..."

"Mmmmmhmmm, it was nice. A bit strange- but nice."

"Hmmmm. I _will_ let you go over again…. But not until I meet with his parents one-on-one."

"Haha, good luck with that, I hear Ginger works nine-to-five at Zearz selling appliances… that's gotta be _exhausting_."

" _Oh does he now?_ I'll just have to give them a call and see when we can talk." Tenma said through his teeth.

"Yeah yeah, they told me while we were playing Uno- can you believe I got beat _again_?"

"Not really surprised. You really need to work on your poker face, Atom."

Atom sighed in disappointment, "I know…"

"But on the bright side, at least we had a good time!"

"And everyone _loved_ my cookies- even Astro!"

"Good thing I poisoned them."

"W H A T?!"

"I'M JOKING! I'M JOKING! ATOM CALM DOWN!"

 _ **((END OF CHAPTER 6!))**_


	7. Night Terrors

…

Monday, he was up again at an unreasonable time. He chipped away minute after minute every time he stared at his laptop, consumed by the vastness of the internet.

He couldn't remember at this point when the last time he slept was, but he didn't care.

Staying up was, for him, the more superior choice instead of crawling into bed and playing a game of chance. Essentially, he would be _gambling_ with his mind to see if he could survive the night without any horrifying dreams that left him with nothing but a bed of wet tears, and a cluttered mind.

But all of this came at a price, he was dead tired and couldn't keep his eyes open. He tried all kinds of methods to stay awake, but at last he bit the dust, or so he thought.

Because finally, it was morning.

The struggle to stay awake had proved yet again to be successful.

Now the real task was _convincing_ everyone that he was _not_ tired.

He walked out of his room and tried to keep his eyes as wide open as possible without looking like he's been scared pantless for some odd reason.

He made his way down the hallway and peered out at the dining / living room.

"Good morning, Astro!" Quinn grinned as he placed a plate of eggs and bacon down on Astro's spot at the table.

"Morning." He cleared his throat.

"Are you alright? The circles under your eyes look especially dark today." Quinn frown and walked up to Astro.

"Uh, no-no! Everything's fine- maybe you need to start wearing glasses." Astro joked.

"Deaf _and_ blind? I don't know how I feel about this, Quinn. I may need to file a divorce." Finn tsked as he joked as well.

"Ouch…." Astro yawned, "...talk about _harsh_."

"Finian…." Quinn placed his hands on his hips as he turned to look at his husband, then looked back at Astro. "And did you even get any sleep last night."

"Who, me? Oh yeah, _plenty_ of sleep. It's nice when the AC gets all cool and you're all bundled up in warm sheets- that's the _shit_ right there." Astro nodded.

"Hmmmm. Well, sleep is important. You should let us know if you ever have a hard time getting to bed."

"Pffft, I _know_ , how old do you think I am, three?"

"Technically, you are about 5." Finn stood up from the couch.

"Dangit." Astro pouted, "Not even technically old enough for kindergarten!"

"I think they enroll this time of year. We really should consider it, dear." Finn walked over to his husband.

"Maybe we should wait until next year. They don't let them in unless they turn 5 before September." Quinn chuckled.

"He's getting older. Perhaps we should have another one before there's too large of an age gap."

"Ah yes. He really could use a little sibling as a friend. What a wonderful idea, darling!"

Finn belly laughed and Quinn tittered, trying to imitate the stereotypical man and wife.

"Where the fuck am I?" Astro whispered to himself as he squinted at the two men. "Maybe I really should get some sleep…."

A few hours passed and Astro was sitting at the kitchen table, trying his best to draw on his laptop. It was proving difficult to draw when his eyes kept wanting to close.

"Mmmmm, no no no, boobs aren't _that_ big, ya dumbass." He hit the CMD + Z button again.

He put the pen down and sighed.

"Be on your best behavior today, Astro. We have a client coming in." Quinn said to him as he walked into the room.

"Oh for real? Wait… I thought you sold appliances at Zearz, you doing weird shit under the table?!" Astro sarcastically joked.

"Oh. Ha. Ha." Quinn rolled his eyes. "I'll make _you_ get an _actual_ job there if you don't stop it with the sass."

"Well at least I'll have a _stable_ income, that is, if they manage to stay open."

"That's unlikely. They just closed another one over in Metro City."

"Hmmmm, maybe that's why it took Atom a minute to even figure out what the place was..."

"Uck," Astro muttered, "If only I had Brianna here to confirm I'm doing this right, can't tell with these obviously photoshopped stock photos on Goggle."

"Who are you trying to draw?" Quinn walked over and looked at Astro's screen.

"No one." Astro shrugged, "Though now it just looks like she belongs in one of those 'one thicc bih™' memes….." He shuddered.

"Hmmm. Yeah her proportions are a little off. It's not very realistic."

"Well no shit, Sherlock, she's got _ass_ , how many people you know IRL that are one thicc bih™?"

"I dated many women when I was younger. I am _pan_ after all."

"And I'm a yardstick, congrats." Astro picked up his pen again. "That's slang for 'straight as a 36 inch ruler', if you were too _pan_ to comprehend."

"No no. I get ya. I was just trying to help you out." Quinn held his hands up and walked away.

"Pfft, I surround myself with too many queer people. Wouldn't it be just the most _ironic_ thing if I was queer myself? Talk about an awkward 180…" Astro went back to drawing. _((Little does he know… ~Emily))_

"...Though would anyone _really_ care? I have yet to know."

Suddenly he heard the front door knock.

"Someone's made a poor life decision!" He called out.

Quinn sighed and answered the door.

"Oh hello, deary." A strangely familiar elderly woman stood in the doorway and smiled at the man. "I'm here with my little robot kitty. She's seem to have-..."

Quinn began to sweat profusely as the lady squinted at him.

"Do I know you?"

"Uh. No- no. I've n-never seen you before in m-my life, ma'am." He began to squirm.

Astro tried not to laugh, letting out a cough instead.

"Hmmm…. Wait…. Aren't you that man that-"

"Mrs. Ainsworth! You're early for your appointment." Finn walked into the room and grabbed the old lady's attention.

Astro pinched his arm to keep himself awake as his surroundings slowly became unfamiliar from how tired he was becoming.

"Oh! Dr. Kenny! You look well, young man. Has your little assistant here been keeping you on your toes?" Mrs. Ainsworth pinched Finian's cheek.

"I'm far from young, ma'am. But he has been doing a good job at keeping the books." He smirked as he led her to his lab in the back of the apartment.

"Does she even know we're married?" Quinn whispered as he watched them leave the room. "You'd think our landlady of 10 years would notice by now…."

"Isn't it a rule that old women are oblivious to everything?" Astro looked up.

"Pretty much..." Quinn sighed again and followed Finn and the old woman into the lab.

At nighttime, Astro sat at his computer yet again, starting back up with his efforts to stay awake the whole night.

He tried so hard, pinching himself until he swore he saw a bit of metal from his insides, standing up and walking around, shining light after light into his dead tired eyes, but this time around- it proved unsuccessful.

He fell asleep to having his head mashed against the keyboard of his laptop and drool dripping down onto the touchpad, a sign he had passed out and given up all hope.

 _He stood on top of a tall building, peering over at the edge, he swore any time now he'd just jump._

 _He looked behind to see Conscience sitting on the ground with a smug look on his face, seemingly unamused with Astro's presence._

" _Might as well, asshole." He said, looking at Astro._

 _Astro froze._

" _I think the world would be_ _ **far**_ _much better off without you. You mean absolutely nothing to anyone. I mean really- did you_ _ **think**_ _anyone actually cared? You only tell yourself that so you'll sleep at night, but clearly to no success."_

 _Astro turned back around._

" _If you jump, I'm not sorry."_

" _W-we… we talked about this. WE TALKED ABOUT THIS!" Astro yelled_

" _YEAH YOU LITTLE SHIT, WELL GUESS THE FUCK WHAT?!" Conscience stood up._

 _Astro shuddered._

" _Can't even grow a backbone- who the fuck do you think you are?!" Conscience scowled._

" _You're a no good try-hard ya bitch!"_

 _Astro didn't speak._

" _What? Did you think I was_ _ **actually**_ _going to hold pity for you? That'd be a disservice to_ _ **myself**_ _."_

 _Astro could feel his eyes water._

 _Conscience chuckled, "Do a backflip while you're at it. At least then I'll be somewhat entertained."_

" _No…" Astro shook his head. "I'm tired of your BULLSHIT!" he yelled._

" _Ooooo, feisty. Not enough heat though, assrot."_

 _Astro closed his eyes and charged at Conscience, attempting to push him over the edge and ridding him from existence._

 _But he just phased through him._

" _Did you really think that would work, you moron?" Astro heard Conscience's voice fade and wind brush through his hair._

" _I'm just a figment of your imagination."_

 _Astro opened up his eyes to see that he was falling._

 _It took a moment for him to realize that he was about to die._

 _With this sudden grasp on reality, he began to scream._

 _He couldn't hear himself at first, but he felt his throat burn as air escaped his mouth and his lungs contracted._

 _He was only a few feet from the hard concrete before everything stopped._

He woke up the next morning on the floor with tears all over his face, he stood up in a panic as he had realized what he'd done. Astro raced out of his room and headed for the bathroom, where, sure enough, he was met with the gross face and red eyes he had grown to know every time he broke into a sob.

He freaked out, unsure of what to do. He couldn't let his dads see him like this, for sure then they'd know something is up, especially considering the whole thing yesterday about him having eyebags. He decided the best thing to do was splash his face with water, and if they asked, allergies.

Quinn yawned as he walked up to the bathroom door. Seeing it was closed, he figured he'd knock on it. Astro nearly slipped and fell when he heard the knock from the other side of the door.

"Uh. Ah. SOMEONE'S IN HERE!" He yelled out, knocking into the toilet.

"Are you ok in there, Astro? " Quinn became concerned after hearing the thud.

"Yeah yeah, I'm good!"

"Oh. Ok." The man yawned again. "Just remember to flush."

Astro tried not to laugh, "Will do!" he called out.

...

Later that day, around evening time, the three of them were in the car. They had just left from going on their '6 o'clock grocery shopping' trip they did once in awhile when they ran out of spaghetti noodles, or more recently, crackers.

Astro looked out the window and saw the streetlights were turning on as the sky became much more black.

He sighed and leaned his head against it before yawning.

Car rides always seemed to do the trick for him. For reasons unknown, he always found that just sitting in the back as the car drove off would easily lull him to sleep. A sleep, that he knew for sure, didn't give him nightmares.

"Mmmmm. He fell asleep again." Quinn said, looking behind him.

"It's normal to fall asleep in the car, especially for him. Why does this surprise you?" Finn glanced over at his husband.

"He's been acting very strangely lately…."

"You've said he 'acts strange' since the day he moved in."

"But this is different…. He looks… pale..."

"I'm sure he's alright. There doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with him. He's not in pain. There's no need to worry."

"You always forget that people have emotions and that they can hurt as well..."

"I don't forget… You know I have difficulty understanding it..." Finn sighed.

"Yes. I know." Quinn took his hand and held it in his own. "But I still love you."

"I know. I haven't forgotten that either." Finian smiled as he pulled up to the apartment building.

A few days had passed since their drive. The sun had set and the city was settling down to bed.

"Did you see Astro at dinner tonight?" Quinn looked up from his phone and at Finn, who was taking off his robe and hanging it on the closet door. "He almost fell asleep eating… I'm starting to get really concerned."

"Homework is merciless these days. Blame the school board the next time he falls face-first into his leftovers." Finn sat on the bed and fluffed his pillow.

"I don't think it's homework… He'll usually complain if there's too much."

"Teenagers like to hide their issues. It's likely that he's hiding more the older he gets."

"YOU SEE! That's the problem!" Quinn slammed his book down in his lap. "He's hiding things from us! Things we could easily help with. It's becoming so obvious but he won't admit to anything…."

"As long as he isn't in any harm and isn't mechanically malfunctioning, then he'll be fine." Finian laid down and pulled the sheets up to his chest, closing his eyes..

"But what if it leads to that?" Quinn's voice almost cracked as he spoke.

"Mechanical failure?" Finn's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he shifted around in bed, trying to get comfortable. "The probability of his emotional anguish developing into-"

" _No_ …. What if he hurts himself?" Tears began to form in Quinn's eyes.

Finn opened his eyes and froze.

"I-... We… Don't know what's going on i-inside his head…. What if he-?" Quinn placed his hand over his mouth as teardrops streamed down his cheeks.

"Everything- everything is going to be alright." Finn sat up and held Quinn's hand, wiping tears from his face with his other. "It's going to be ok. I promise."

Quinn sniffled and nodded before leaning forward and wrapping his arms around his husband. Finn warmly accepted the hug and held him tightly.

Yet again, Astro was staying up. This time he was sitting on his bed playing a game on his phone to pass the time.

He felt proud of himself for keeping awake for so long, the tiredness was an issue, but he seemed to have gotten over it after the third day.

Convincing seemed much harder though.

He almost sometimes wished he would stop caring about how vulnerable he'd become if he told them the truth. But at the end of the day, the lows of the roller coaster were in fact the lows- and he wasn't ready to ride those out just yet, and quite frankly- he doesn't even think he ever will.

It's a tough decision, yes, but it was also what had to be done.

His eyes grew tired again and he instantly went for his wrist and gave it a pinch until he felt the pain.

Astro looked up at the time on his screen.

2:36 AM. Only 5 hours left to try and stay awake.

"No big deal." He whispered to himself. "Just like last night. Gotta just keep watching TubeYou."

He soon felt himself pinching his wrist again, the action becoming a force of habit. But it was only a few more moments before his eyes became droopy again.

"Gotta… keep….. going…"

He thought of maybe standing up, but before he even could, his phone dropped out of his hand as he began to slowly lose consciousness.

It wasn't long before he passed out on his bed, dead asleep.

Not even an hour into sleeping, he managed to manifest another nightmare. He tossed and turned in bed, feeling uncomfortable as he was unable to cope with the thoughts his mind was conjuring up.

He couldn't take it anymore, he started kicking into hyperventilating as he _literally_ kicked around in bed. Tears soon streamed down his face.

This is exactly what he wanted to avoid.

Through the hyperventilating, he turned to his side and let out a small scream. It was nothing at the time, but what was expected to brew over time wasn't just "nothing."

He finally stopped with the fast breathing, All he was left with now was dry heaves and screams mixed with the tears that still poured out like waterfalls.

Not even minutes later, when it had felt like he was finally getting the worse of the worst, the door to his room busted opened, and his two fathers stood in the doorway.

 _ **((END OF CHAPTER 7!))**_


	8. He's Not Human

...

Finian slowly opened his eyes. He could have sworn he heard something. But maybe it was just in his dream.

But then he heard it again. And this time it was much louder.

He looked over at his husband and shook his shoulder, trying to wake him up.

"Quinn? Do you hear that screaming? Something's going on."

"It's just teenagers out on the street….. Don't worry about it….." He yawned and turned away from Finn.

"Dear…."

The next scream was loud enough for them to notice that it was coming from the other room and not downstairs.

They both sprung up, sitting up in bed and looking at each other.

Not even a second passed before they heard another blood-curdling scream.

"ASTRO!" The two men yelled as they jumped out of bed and ran to Astro's bedroom door.

Quinn grabbed the doorknob and jiggled it frantically.

"It- IT WON'T OPEN!" He looked back at his husband before resuming his struggle.

"TURN IT! TURN IT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Finian clasped his hand over Quinn's and helped him turn the doorknob.

They nearly stumbled over each other as the door swung open.

The two men looked in to see sheets strewn about the room and pillows tossed to the ground. Astro was still in bed, the screams seemed to have died down, but he was trying so hard to catch up with himself as tears spilled down his face. For a moment, there was only the sound of dry heaves before settling into just the typical sounds of crying as Astro tossed around uncomfortably.

"Astro! Astro, what's wrong?! Astrooo!" Quinn immediately ran over to the bed and shook his shoulders, trying to wake him up.

Astro awoke but was quickly bitten with fear once he recognized where he was and what presumably must've gone down while he was sleeping.

"Astro!" Quinn yelled out again, terrified by Astro's thousand-mile stare.

Astro didn't know what to do, he stayed frozen for a while as he tried to let everything soak in, but that quickly fell apart as yet another stream of tears ran down his face.

He closed his eyes tightly and sat up, sobbing as he burrowed his face into Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn threw his arms around the boy with hesitation and held him firmly.

He looked over at Finn as he comforted Astro. The man was standing frozen in the doorway, holding onto the doorknob.

"Finian..." Quinn looked up at his husband, tears pooling in his eyes.

He snapped out of his daze and looked at his husband. "I-... I-..." He choked on his words.

Astro, for a moment, pulled away to wipe his face with the back of his forearm.

…

Astro sat by himself in the living room for a while, staring off into nothingness as the time passed by.

His efforts had finally collapsed, and he felt… _embarrassed_.

He had tried so hard to not lose his vulnerability, yet still managed to do so.

Though in his defense, it wasn't his fault- he had no control over how he slept as opposed to how he behaved during the day.

There were just… things, or baggage, rather, that he just preferred his dads didn't know about.

But… there comes a time where those things need to be said and need to be discussed.

Just… maybe not like this, he thought.

 _Feeling out of it?_

"No…." He brought his knees up to his chest.

 _You're a fucking baby, you know that? Too damn sensitive for your own good- and I of all things should know!_

"Well then, if you know so much how about you talk, hmm?"

 _Oh please, grow up, will you? You can't let stupid nightmare-_

"You were there!"

"You… you saw what happened…" Astro's eyes began to water.

 _Ye...yes- but… That's not the point!_

"Then what is the point, hmm? Show no remorse when people get hurt?! I'm tired of being stone cold! I'm tired of acting like I don't give a shit because last time I checked I gave a lot of shits but you…"

"You… go out of your way…"

Astro shook his head, "Nevermind…"

 _Look, we… we can sort this out! I-I-I can, hmmm…_

"It's fine, Conscience… It's not a big deal."

 _Not a big deal?! Buddy I can't lose you! I-I-I'm nothing with you gone, I need you to be here, so I can be here, kapeesh?_

"Not really…"

 _Ughhhh come on kid, you gotta play your part! What is everyone else going to think if you just get up and_ _ **disappear**_ _?!_

"… Why didn't he leave sooner…"

"I'm scared, Finn. What does this mean? Has he done this before?... We'll never know. He's only been here for a month and a half..." Quinn crossed his arms and frowned.

Finian was buried into his computer screen, typing away, as his husband paced back and forth from one side of the lab to the other.

"What are we going to do? We can't watch his every move..." Quinn peeked out the door to see Astro still sitting on the couch, then closed the door and went back to pacing. "Is this why he's been so tired?... He's still talking to himself sometimes…. Could that be part of this, too? Finn?"

"WILL YOU JUST…. _STOP_?!" Finn burst out as he turned around in his swivel chair to face him. "... I'm… I'm trying to work…."

Quinn looked startled for a moment but soon turned around to look at the wall, not saying another word.

 _Look, you're not leaving- It's a bad idea and I won't allow it! You step out that door and I'm taking over and strapping you to the toilet seat._

"Ohhh boiii I'm so scared- that's not a very logical response, dimwit." Astro folded his arms.

 _It will be when I enact it._

"Yeah, and you said that back when Blondie showed up and left with The Mexican Flag in angst because her nose bled, again, not logical."

 _Buddy, you're_ _ **really**_ _getting on my nerves._

"That's theoretically impossible- I should know, I've tried."

"My best option is to just go and leave, I've already made a fool of myself, no use in fucking up whatever cred I still have even more."

 _You ever stop to wonder what other people think of you talking to yourself?_

"Hey, as long as I'm not gettin' creepy about it."

 _And what would you define as "creepy", per say?_

"I dunno, last week you asked if you really do get computer viruses by going onto Focal Porn."

 _We seriously need our priorities in line…_

"It's your call, not like my life isn't already in shambles."

 _Perhaps you should try talking to them, I dunno- make up some lie, say it was just a one-off thing if you're so "opposed" to opening up._

"It's not worth it… I've already done enough damage- I mean look at Nerdo, the dudes went into hyper speed to get work done and Ginger looks as nutso as I did the first time you took over back in November."

 _I was a novice at the time, I'll admit. But I like to think I got this "dual personality" thing packed down to a T._

"Pffft, I'd rather be you any day if all I had to do was talk shit about someone until they threaten suicide and then you 'pretend' to care so they don't actually do it- quite a concept, no?"

 _That's not the point, the point is- you go talk to them, at the very least so Ginger doesn't keep looking like a caffeinated psycho._

Astro sighed.

"I… I guess…" he slowly got up and made his way to the lab.

A few moments passed before Quinn walked towards the door. He had the knob turned half-way before he heard the swivel chair squeak.

"Don't forget. He's not a human..." Finian looked up at him.

"Oh. Don't worry. I know. I know he's a robot. That he's 'not like us'." Quinn responded, his eyes still fixed on the door. "And I know that if I had just let you fix him 2 months ago, that none of us would be going through this right now. And I know you'll never stop reminding me of it…."

He turned the doorknob all the way and opened the door to see Astro standing in front of him, his hand reaching for the door.

Astro looked quite surprised, as he didn't expect Quinn to be there in the first place.

"Uh…." He tried to form words, but couldn't.

Quinn seemed taken aback as well but feigned a smile and placed a hand on Astro's shoulder.

"We should go talk about this somewhere else." He moved his hand away and walked past Astro to the living room.

Astro followed behind at a much slower pace.

"So. How are you feeling?" Quinn asked as he grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen.

"Uhhh…"

 _You go the honest route._

"Embarrassed…." He looked down at the table.

"Understandable." Quinn sat down in the armchair in the living room.

"I-I-I… I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Astro. You don't need to be sorry. You did nothing wrong."

"No no, it's fine…" Astro sighed, "… you… really didn't need to see that."

"Let's forget about that." Quinn motioned for Astro to sit on the couch. "Come here and sit."

Astro sheepishly got up and sat down next to him on the couch.

They sat in silence for a moment, apart from the sound of Quinn taking a sip of his drink.

"What was it that happened while you were sleeping? …. If you even were asleep..." He looked up at Astro, placing his mug on the coffee table.

"Ummm…. _Things_ , you know?"

"Astro..."

"I-I just… don't wanna talk about it."

"I can't help you unless you tell me what's wrong."

"It's just… a lot, and… really intense, _too_ intense, rather."

"Take your time. We can talk about it for as long as you like." Quinn gently smiled.

Astro sighed again, "Look… I… I don't wanna be mean… but… I feel like… there's just certain things I keep to myself… and this is one of them. I don't…. _Like_ talking about my baggage _at all_. It's just too vulnerable of me…. _And I don't like that_."

"But you do want to feel better, don't you?"

Astro paused for a moment before nodding.

"Then you have to tell me what's going on..."

Astro brought his knees up to his chest and went mute again.

"Astro… please…. I promise you I won't judge you. I only want you to be happy."

He buried his head in his lap.

"What if it happens again?"

 _You have no idea how many times it has happened already, freckle face._

Astro lifted his head up, "Ugh, Ginger- It's fine. It-it… It's not gonna happen again! It's… alright."

He looked over to the hallway to see Finn stroll into the room with an enthusiasm he had never seen from him before.

"I have an idea!" He clapped his hands together, causing Quinn to look back at him.

He squinted at Finn. "Don't tell me…."

...

Astro looked up at the ceiling, examining every spot and crack, trying his best to ignore the sensors taped to his temples and the wires connected to the small compartment in his chest. He glanced down again at the opened hatch. He didn't find it fun to be reminded that there was a door beneath his collar bones that housed half of what made him live.

"While you two were idling away time attempting to solve this dilemma with… _conversation_ , I was researching an ideal approach to persuade Astro into disclosing to us what happened last night." Finn scrolled through endless lines of code as he spoke to Quinn.

"What are you going to do? Read his mind?" He scoffed, trying to pinpoint the few things he knew about this sort of thing from the data.

"No. If he were a robot with simple programming and an easily accessible and readable memory bank, then yes." Finian glanced over at his husband, wondering why he would ask such a question. "Astro's AI is fascinatingly complicated."

"Thanks, fam," Astro said from the metal table behind them.

"The least complicated alternative would be to temporarily hinder his ability to twist the truth." Finn ignored him, pointing to a group of letters and numbers. "And if it comes to it, I can also stop him from changing topics. That way he has no choice but to tell us what we ask of him."

"Doesn't that sound a bit inhumane?" Quinn looked over at Astro concerningly, nervously shuffling his feet.

"It's the most humane thing we can do besides talking down his throat until he gives in.."

"This won't change him, will it? Like… his personality? You're technically turning off part of his mind…."

"It could happen. But it's temporary. Like local anesthesia, it wears off quickly…. Why all the questions? You do want him to get better don't you."

"I... I do! But….."

Astro tapped his fingers against the cold metal beneath him.

 _So you're just gonna go through with this?_

Astro didn't respond.

 _You know the deal still stands, I have no problem taking over and strapping you to the toilet seat._

Astro, for once, tried listening in on Quinn and Finian speaking to drown out Conscience.

 _Are you even listening, shithead?!_

No response.

 _Bud. Can you hear me?!_

 _Ughhhh, you fucking piece of shit, you kNOW WHAT!_

Suddenly Astro couldn't catch his breath for a moment, but he managed to breathe normally again.

 _I know you hear me, dumbass! I don't want you doing this!_

Astro yet again did not respond.

 _Ugh! It's like I'm talking to a wall here! You're a piece of fucking shit, you know that? You… You really think they care? They just want you out of their hair for good._

 _Because you're right, you did make a fool of yourself, oh did you make a_ _ **damn fool**_ _of yourself. You should be_ _ **ashamed**_ _._

 _But of course, not even your dumbass self could see it coming, I mean honestly, why didn't you get up and splash some water or put on one of those weird hippie videos Pipsqueak talks about, use your brain buddy!_

Astro still didn't say a word, but a few tears managed to run down his face, though he still didn't move or make a sound.

"But what? Don't you like the idea of tapping into his brain? He's a robot, Quinn."

"I don't want you to hurt him."

"This isn't going to hurt him..."

"But what if it does?! What if it changes him?"

"It's _temporary_. Don't you understand what that word means? It will go aw-"

"But what if it doesn't. What if something happens and it's permanent and he turns into a real robot, _one with no emotions_. Then what are we going to do? People are going to wonder what happened. This is exactly why I didn't want you touching a hair on his head the first time he stepped foot in this lab two months ago."

"... You don't trust me… That's what it is."

"N-no! That's… That's not-"

"It's so blatantly self-evident. You look at me like an emotionless monster. As if I have no regards for others wellbeings." He looked up at Quinn. "And it's true."

"Finian… No…. I don't-"

"We either continue or Astro never gets better. Plain and simple."

"I'm sorry. I can't let you do this…."

Astro dug his fingers into the table, the screeching helping to keep him distracted, as he started to become a bit overstimulated.

He started feeling anxious and suddenly it felt like the room was getting smaller, narrowing in, about to potentially collapse on him.

He then quickly sat up, unable to catch his breath, everything was too much for him.

He wanted to rip the cords off and somehow leave the room but hearing Conscience yelling in his head only made it worse and much much harder to ground himself.

"Astro!" Quinn turned to look at him when the screech of the metal finally became loud enough for him to hear from the other side of the room.

He went completely non-verbal as he hyperventilated some more, feeling almost like he was going to faint.

"What's wrong? Astro?... Astro, it's ok. Calm down." Quinn quickly walked over and tried to help Astro lay back down in an effort to comfort him. But he only stiffened and gasped for air.

He wanted to finally confess everything to put this whole ordeal to rest, but it almost felt like the world was spinning and he couldn't form words no matter how hard he tried.

"I'll- I'll tell you... _everything_ ," He was finally able to coax those words out of himself.

Suddenly everything went black.

…

Later on, Astro found himself slowly waking up in bed, a confusing sight considering he swore up and down he was in the lab on the metal table with all those plethoras of cables hooked up to him. He slowly moved his hand over to his chest, confirming that he was no longer connected to a computer.

He quickly sat up in fear, unsure of what was going on, to then see both Quinn and Finian at the end of his bed patiently waiting for him.

"What… What the fuck is going on?" He asked with a tiredness in his voice.

"Do you remember who we are?" Quinn asked, walking over to him.

"You're…. joking, right, Ginger?" Astro sarcastically responded.

"J-just wanted to make sure… you're right Finn, he didn't lose his memory..." He looked back at his husband in shame.

"Something… happen?" Astro asked.

"You were losing control of yourself so I simply turned you off. You could say it was like a 'soft reset.'" Finian rolled Astro's desk chair next to the bed and sat in it.

"O shit fam, what a concept." Astro pretended to sound amused.

"So uh, you're in here… because?" He then asked.

"I-... We'd hate to push this on you so soon, but…. Well… Maybe we shouldn't do this right now, F-"

"You said, and I quote, 'I'll tell you _everything_ '." Finn interrupted Quinn and seemed prepared to whip out a tape recorder for extra evidence.

"Oh, I did? Fuck."

"Yes, I can assure you." Quinn held his hand over his husband's keeping him from taking out the small playback device.

Astro covered his face with his hands and groaned.

"Look, It's not that big of a deal? Can we just move on from this like Jesus fucking Christ…"

"It's a big deal when we wake up in the middle of the night to find you screaming bloody murder."

"Ugh, but it was just _one time_ , It'll be fine!"

"But what if it happens again?... Stop lying to us, Astro."

"I highly doubt that." He folded his arms.

"We can easily hook you back up if need be." Finian scooted the chair closer to Astro.

"Don't threaten him like that!"

"I think I'm fine." Astro lied back down and put a pillow over his face.

"You can go now." He muttered from under the pillow.

"Astro, please…." Quinn sat down on the bed. "You can't keep leaving us in the dark like this."

"…Not if I can help it." Astro turned to his side.

"We care about you, Astro. We don't want you to be scared or hurt or sad." Quinn reached forward and lifted the pillow from his face.

Astro had tears slowly pooling in his eyes as he looked up at Quinn, "It's…. f-fine."

"You need to tell us what's going on..."

Astro's expression went from fear and sadness to just sadness all together, he didn't know what to say.

He turned to his side again, still choosing to be mute.

Quinn sighed. "Maybe let's start from the beginning. Keep it simple…. Was it a nightmare that made you so distraught?"

Astro looked at the wall for a moment before nodding.

"Ok! That's a start! Now… What was it about?" Quinn gently smiled.

No response.

"Ah. I'm sorry… Is this too fast? I can understand if it's too traumatizing to relive."

He nodded again.

"Mmmm… Perhaps we'll just come back to this some other time..." Quinn stood up then looked at Astro with the same gentle smile as before. "I'm proud that you opened up at all about this."

"W- wait. But..." Finn watched as his husband left the room.

"I-" He looked back at Astro before clearing his throat. "Yes. Let's leave this discussion for when you feel more comfortable..."

"Just don't forget that you still have another option." He stood up and left the room as well.

Astro sat up once the two of them left.

While he couldn't stop the tears from coming, it did feel kinda nice to, at the very least, release _some_ of the weight on his shoulders over what's happened the past week.

But in the back of his mind, he still felt conditioned to keep everything in, that, and not wanting Conscience to but in and fuck everything up.

He sighed, but this time out of tranquility. Because even though he couldn't speak for what was to come, at least for now he was at peace.

 _ **((END OF CHAPTER 8!))**_


	9. The Internet

…

Sunday, Astro was in the kitchen preparing to record a TubeYou video.

His video, " _Cooking 420: Spa-geh-tea [Feat. Spaghetti export: Ginger]_ " was CERTAIN to be a hit. But _just_ to be sure, he set everything up beforehand and made sure all of the settings in his camera were up to "professional shitposting" standards.

He sat at the dining table tapping his fingers against it impatiently as he waited for Quinn.

"Ginger better not make me wait forever just for this stupid video." He annoyingly sighed.

He could hear him open the bathroom door down the hall and the toilet tank filling back up with water.

"Ginger. What the fuck. Come on, we gotta film this shit video. It's not time for a poop break."

"Oh. You wanted to do that _now_?" Quinn walked into the kitchen.

"No, I wanted to do it _yesterday_ \- of course, I wanna do it now! Can't you see my meme inspired set up?!" Astro motioned to the setup he had in the kitchen.

"What's the frog thing? And why is this one on a unicycle?"

"It's for the memes Ginger, the _memes_." Astro looked dead into his eyes as serious as he possibly could.

"Uh. Ok then." Quinn looked slightly frightened but soon looked over at the camera. "What are we making again?"

" _My_ spaghetti," Astro smirked.

"Kill me now. Please."

"B-but I need you for this! You gotta pretend to be my spaghetti expert!"

Quinn sighed as he sat down. "Fine. As long as you don't make me eat any of it."

"Nonono, no one eats the food in meme videos, that's against the meme video law." Astro stood up from the table and walked over to his camera.

"Thank god."

"Okay, how do I record again, hmmm?" Astro picked his camera up and examined it to see where the record button was. "Okay… I think that's it, maybe, whatever." he walked into the kitchen.

"How did you forget how to turn it on? Don't you use it all the time?"

"Uhhh, no- you're thinking of Atom… _again_."

"What? No. I mean…. Nevermind."

"It's whatever." Astro shrugged and stood behind the counter.

Quinn began to stand up. "So are we jus-"

Astro suddenly clapped his hands together.

Then he did it again. And again. And again.

"Um- Why are you- clapping your- hands?" Quinn asked between claps.

"Gotta sync that audio, ya kno?"

"Oh. I see."

"Yeah, I don't think I did it enough, hol' up." he clapped a few times more to ensure it was enough.

"Don't think you need to clap that much…" Quinn walked next to Astro. "But anyways, where do you want me to-"

Astro clapped one more time.

Quinn blinked and waited a moment to make sure Astro wasn't going to clap again as he restarted his sentence.

"Where do you want-"

Astro clapped again, but this time starring Quinn in the eyes.

"... me to stand?"

"Anywhere. You. Want. The. Stupider. The. Better. Gotta. AMP! Up. The. Meme." He clapped in-between every word.

"I'll just go stand on the edge of the building then…." Quinn walked towards the front door.

"Oh my god. This is going to make an amazing blooper roll." Astro laughed.

Quinn opened the door, not saying anything.

"Wait. No. No! Come back! Just stand next to me! Right here. In front of the crackers."

"Ok." He smiled and closed the door behind him.

"Jesus Christ…. Ok. So uh. You stand there. And I'll uh start this…. Shit, I forgot my intro. Guess I gotta pleb it then." Astro whispered to himself as Quinn stood next to him.

"Uh… _Hello_ \- Internet…. _Earthicans_. Welcome to my kitchen, today we're making some uh, _Spa-geh-tea_ , the fanciest dish known to mankind."

"That's very inaccurate..."

"Shhhhhshshhshhh. Shhh." Astro put his finger up to his lips and shushed Quinn. "Don't talk unless I tell you to. And when you do, you gotta dab. No exceptions… Now I gotta start over."

"What's a da-"

"S H H H."

He started back up again.

"So uh, Hi Earthican internets, whale-cum to me kitchen, today we're making _Spa-geh-tea_ , the most ornate dish known to mankind."

"And for legitness- I have brought Ginger over who I definitely didn't ask to pretend to be my spaghetti expert instead of my dad, hahaha, wouldn't that be _hilarious_ , eh?" Astro nudged Quinn with his elbow.

"Ahhhh… anyways. So for this, you need, let's see uh… Tomato soup 'can buy this at the supermarket. Sum noods, I prefer Picstagram, but if u got that FrontBook that'll do. And ummmm, sum leaf- found this in the back of the fridge but a local trip to a tree will do. Oh-oh-oh and the most important part, a meatball- Ginger went to DollarDollar and got me these ummm… what does this say? _Square-a-Ranch_ , the fuck is this shit? Never heard of it, anyways, meatballs, and no your penis does not count, sorry."

"So first, you uh… get a bowl, any size, it doesn't matter. And you open up your tomato soup, and you…. _Pour it in_. This is making some weird ass sounds- probably one of those "ASMR" sounds I hear people talk about, do you know what that is? I hear Pipsqueak talk about it like it's some newfound holy grail- I don't know what it is and frankly, I don't think I'd _wanna_ know at this point."

"And then because this is TubeYou and I'm a lazy piece of shit- into the microwave it goes!" he shoved the bowl into the microwave and set it to run for a minute.

"So uh… now that that's out, we add one uncooked meatball, again, no penis ya nasty." Astro ripped open the meatball package and some of the meatballs went flying, causing Quinn to facepalm.

"...Aaaaannnnnndddd this is why I don't cook- ANYWAYS then we add _one_ uncooked nood." Astro looked over at him and placed his hand out. "One cracker, please, kind sir."

"Crack-er? But I don't even know her!" Quinn smirked as he made a pun.

Astro stared at him with a blank face.

"Why aren't you dabbing?" He glared as he grabbed a cracker from the box.

"Please ignore him, everyone." Astro placed a noodle into the bowl.

"Mmmmmkay- and now for garnish and also to convince everyone I actually _enjoy_ making spaghetti, we add our leaf- I think this is basil, but any leaf will do- it's time for leaf equality, EVERYONE GET ON BOARD WITH IT!"

"... That's a bay leaf actu-"

"Shh. Dab."

"But I don't even know what th-"

"Shhhhhhh…. Anyways."

"You know what- I think this might be cilantro, okay we good."

"But uh, yeah, that's it. My world famous spaghetti from my kitchen to your garbage can, hope you enjoyed and uh, don't die, am I right, spaghetti export?"

"Why did you make me do this?"

Astro groaned, "Goodbye." he left the kitchen.

"Wait? So that's it? That was only like... 5 minutes."

"Mmmmhmmm." Astro closed the door to his room.

"What about your camera?" Quinn yelled out.

"Oh, stop the recording!"

Quinn sighed before looking at the camera. "Can't be that hard..."

He walked up to the camera and thought for a moment.

"Hmmm. Add this to the video, Astro." He said into the camera for holding it close to his face and shaking it comically.

"Help… He's holding me here against my will… Send… H e l p." He faked being in a panic and laughed afterward, turning off the camera.

 _ **((END OF CHAPTER 9!))**_


	10. Brianna?

…

"So you want… _me_ to come over or…?"

"Uhhhh, if-if you wanted to- I guess."

"Hmm."

There was a moment of silence.

"Brianna? You there?"

"Yeah yeah, I'm here," Brianna replied.

"Gosh, a _date_. Haven't been on one in _ages_!" She mumbled to herself. "Tell you what, Pookie- I'll come over this Saturday, sound good?"

"Mmmhmmm."

Brianna chuckled, "I figured much- I'll see you then, right?"

"Yeah! I'll uh- see you then too."

"Totes, and I'll pack a bag just in case."

"Pfft, you think you're gonna get smashed?"

"No! I just think the drive is _too_ long- might as well make use of staying so the hour-long drive is justifiable."

"Whatever you say, Cookies."

"Damn right shithead- I love you!"

"Love you too."

Brianna hung up the phone.

…

"Guess who's got a date this Saturday!" Astro exclaimed, bursting into the living room.

Quinn looked up at him from his seat on the couch. "Date?... Finian…. You didn't set up a date for us, did you?" The man smiled and looked over at his husband.

"What?" Finn looked up from his book, dumbfounded. "Uh… Yes?"

"Awww! Baby you don't have to do that!" Quinn threw his arms around his shoulders and kissed him on the cheek. "And you know you don't have to keep secrets like that from me."

"What?... NO!... Me... _I'm_ going on a date, ya dipshits."

"Oh… so we aren't going on a date?" He frowned.

"Uh… No…. We are…." Finn tried his best to lie, knowing that if he didn't that his husband would be disappointed.

"You don't have to lie, honey." Quinn placed his hand on Finn's cheek then smirked. "But I do expect a date now that you mentioned it."

"Wow. Stop being so gay. Jesus fucking Christ…." Astro tried hard not to blush.

"So you're going on a date Saturday?" Quinn looked over at Astro. "With who?"

" _Brianna_ , duh- you think I'm a player?"

"Oh. No, I just forgot you were still with her."

Astro sighed, "Just like Atom…"

"To be quite honest, you don't speak of her often." Finn looked back down at his book.

"What do you mean? We talked about her three weeks ago when Atom came over!"

"Three weeks. Long enough for him to forget." He pointed at Quinn.

"Bah! You just can't believe a _heterosexual_ couple could last as long as us, go ahead, rub it- I can take it."

"Hmm. Well, considering how _women_ are..." Quinn crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling, making an exaggerated thinking pose.

"Mmmmmhmmm." Astro looked and spoke passively aggressively.

"Oh please. You only dated 5 girls throughout your entire life. And you were all _teenagers_." Finn rolled his eyes.

"Oh, so we _do_ have a player, I see?" Astro joked.

"I was in high school. I played football. I couldn't help it if a bunch of teenage girls couldn't keep their hands off of me." Quinn shrugged and sat back on the couch.

"If you made as many puns as you do now, then I don't believe it." Astro tried to do the math in his head.

"What?! Everyone loves a jokester!"

"I think they were willing to look past the terrible dad jokes to get to your _jock cock_."

"FINIAN!"

"I mean. He of all people would know..." Astro motioned at Finn.

"Exactly."

"OK. IM LEAVING." Quinn stormed out of the room, leaving Astro and Finn laughing.

…

On Friday, Astro was in his room thinking of where he could take Brianna for their date.

He could try the park, but he knew for sure it was nothing like Metro City's, perhaps even worse than it, with it's only advantage being no little annoying kids running rampant like miniature maniacs.

There was also ice cream, but that seemed too basic and also too quick, it was more of an afterthought if anything.

He let out a sigh and sat down at his desk, maybe he could look something up?

…

Saturday, Astro was impatiently waiting to hear from Brianna to know when she would be coming over.

He sat by his desk and fiddled with his phone case, constantly tapping the back side of it rapidly.

"Is this what pipsqueak does? Jesus…" he felt annoyed with himself for feeling more impatient than he probably should've.

Not even moments later, his phone vibrated and he quickly picked up.

"BRIANNA!" He greeted.

"Ouch, tone it down Pookie- I don't wanna go deaf anytime soon…" Brianna annoyingly replied.

"S-s-sorry! I'm just uh, I'm really excited to see you again, you know?" Astro's cheeks went red.

"I know- I'm too precious to be forgotten." She joked.

"Hmmm _well_." Astro chuckled.

"I'll be there soon- the city is like 2 miles away."

"Oh, you haven't pulled in yet?"

"Oh, no no- we still have _ways_ to go, probably another twenty minutes or so…"

Astro sighed.

"Hey, don't sweat it Pookie face, I'll be there and then you can make all of the 'faux makeout' claims you and I so desire."

"Well yeah, but- I don't wanna send the wrong message- what if they _actually_ buy it?"

"Isn't that the… _point_?"

"...Listen… we're talking about my dads- people who most likely do worse at three AM on a Wednesday because they took the name 'hump day' a bit too seriously. If I go around making jokes that I'm doing the hanky panky Friday nights at 8/7 CT, then that just gives off the worst impression possible."

"Hmm, perhaps you could be more sarcastic, or tone it down! Like, use more… _kid-friendly_ words."

Astro facepalmed, "I'm getting the notion you want me to talk about this more than I do…"

"It's all about the shock value, Astro! Being classy is for chumps."

"Not when you're trying to make a good first impression! Ugh- just promise me you won't bump it up to PG-13 borderline rated R when you come?"

"Of course, it's not me you need to worry about, it's you…"

"...Whatever, as long as you're willing to commit."

Brianna chuckled, "You can count on this bitch any day!"

"Yes, yes I can." Astro chuckled.

"Okay, I'm hanging up, I'll see you then?"

"Yeah, see you."

There was a moment of silence.

"...A-actually, can _you_ hang up- it's much easier that way."

Astro sighed, pulling the phone away from his ear and hanging up on Brianna.

He got up from his desk and sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling as he wandered off into nothingness.

He secretly hoped Brianna would make a good impression on his dads considering she's probably the only girl they've seen since the homophobic mini-golf lady, but also because she was a _significant_ contrast to Atom. He wondered if she'd be a bit too much for him.

He blushed at the thought, knowing that even though she was a handful, he was willing to still work towards loving her, even though he already did- it never hurt to aspire to love someone even more, right?

Regardless, nothingness started to feel more _grounding_ as now the anxiety was subduing and all that was left was to casually wait until another phone ring so he could race out the door to see Brianna when she came.

…

Astro nearly smacked his phone off the nightstand when he heard the familiar ringtone. He quickly picked it up and answered the call.

"BRI-"

"YES! I'm here. You can stop yelling now. Too young to lose my hearing..."

"Oh! Uhhhhhhhhhh, yeah yeah." Astro nodded, "Pull yourself together, dumbass." He muttered to himself.

"Well?... Are you gonna come get me or what?"

"Oh! Yeah! I'll come now!" He jumped up from his bed and headed out the door.

"BE BACK IN A MINUTE!" He yelled as he ran past Quinn and Finn, who was sitting on the couch, and opened the door to the apartment.

He repeatedly pressed the down button on the wall next to the elevator, hoping it will make it come faster. The door opened and once he got inside, he shuffled his feet in anticipation as the elevator slowly made its way down to the first floor.

When the elevator door opened, he saw Brianna impatiently waiting outside, tapping on the glass with her long, fake acrylic nails.

He felt happy to see her again.

"Pookie! Open this shit!" She tapped even faster when she noticed him coming.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." He walked to the door and opened it for her.

"Hey hey hey! Ya local bitch coming through, ayeeeeee!"

Astro couldn't help but chuckle.

They both went inside the elevator.

"I say a good first impression would be doing that thing we did months ago after our date to the movies…." Brianna looked over at Astro.

"Uhhhhh, I dunno… that doesn't sound like too much to you?" Astro replied.

"Nah, if it's too hot then don't stand so close to the fire." She shrugged.

"K so like, I'll wait here, u go over there all casual and shit- and then I'll come, you're all shook and whatnot, and then I come for you, and it should work, if you commit." The elevator door opened.

"I think so." Astro walked off while Brianna stayed behind.

"Oh. Where's Brianna?" Quinn looked back at Astro as he walked in the door alone.

"Oh, uh- I dunno." Astro shrugged.

"POOKIE! IT'S ME! IM HERE! IN ALL MY GLORY!" Brianna ran into the apartment.

"Oh, uh- Brianna!" Astro exclaimed.

She suddenly jumped into his arms and held his face close to hers, kissing him passionately.

They went at it for a few moments before they realized Astro's dads were still there.

"Oh." Astro turned Brianna around to face them, she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Sup?" She threw a casual peace sign.

Quinn awkwardly waved 'hello' as Finian just glanced up at them for a moment.

"This is…. Brianna." Astro began.

"One and only!" She exclaimed.

"Nice to meet you?" Quinn tried to smile

"It's cool fam, you know… ever thought _maybe_ this place was a bit _too_ overly decorated? I mean _both_ a TV stand _and_ a coffee table, and then an _actual_ table with _two_ vases- I mean talk about overkill." Brianna tsked sarcastically.

"I keep telling them it's too much but they never believe me…." Astro dropped Brianna back down onto the ground.

"I… I couldn't decide which bouquet looked nicer…. So I bought both..." Quinn said, shamefully looking at the two neatly decorated vases on the dining room table.

"Hmm, maybe you could combine the two, or give the other to someone with actual interior design taste… like, say, hmmmm…. Your mom! Moms always have an eye for design."

Finn turned around to look at Brianna and Astro, startled and ready to jump on the couch if he needed to.

Astro nudged Brianna's arm.

"Ow." Brianna slapped him back, "The fuck was that for Pookie?!"

He looked at her again.

Brianna looked back, confused.

"Well um, we have a date, so uh… we should get going! Haha, see ya!" Astro headed out the door.

Brianna threw her arms out in confusion before sighing. "Whatever, you should probably teach him to slow the fuck down because _god_ is he so hard to keep up with." She looked at Quinnian before heading out the door, "SLOW DOWN POOKIE YOU KNOW IM NOT THAT FAST YA DINGUS?!"

Quinn sighed heavily after she shut the door.

"Are you-" Finian looked over at him.

"She's right…. I should have just combined them." He shrugged before turning to Finn and grinning.

Astro sighed in the elevator.

"Brianna… You don't talk about his mom." He cringed.

"Oh… is that… a… problem?"

"Mucho problema, señorita, but don't worry, I made the same mistake a while back- it's no biggie." He continued.

"Oh, well if there's anyone who knows a thing or two about mommy trouble, it's me. You should've said something over the phone!" Brianna exclaimed.

"How would I have known you were gonna bring it up?!"

"I dunno?! Some kinda psychic ability?" The elevator door opened up.

Astro sighed again, "It's whatever, Cookies, the point is…" He took her hand, "I love you."

Brianna inaudibly muttered before speaking again "You better, I didn't come all the way over here just so you could tell me I don't mean shit." She gladly took his hand.

…

"I honestly don't know why you chose to go thrifting," Astro argued.

"Oh, come on, thrifting is nice! You get to see all these cool things the mall doesn't have, plus it gives me hipster cred." Brianna replied.

"And you cared about being a hipster since….?"

"Oh shut up, you're annoying." She teased.

"Well, you know what they say: obnoxious, but consistent." Astro shrugged.

"Pffft, only you say that to tease me."

"I suppose so," Astro opened the door for her.

They walked in and headed towards the women's clothing aisle.

"Maybe you'll find something decent to wear for once. It's all really cheap." Brianna looked back at Astro and down at his band tee.

"Hey! I wear these band tees as a _statement_ , not because I have nothing else!"

"You sure? Smells like you haven't change out of this in a week."

"Okay…. So maybe I don't shower as often as I used to but… these past two weeks have been pretty rough, so…"

"Wow. Just get over it and do your laundry for once..." She pinched her nose and waved her hand in front of her face.

Astro stopped in confusion, but shook his head and went on.

"How does this look on me?" Brianna stopped walking and picked a shirt off the rack, holding it I front of her.

She was surprised to see Astro stopped about 5 feet behind her, looking at an off-the-shoulder blouse, feeling its fabric as it hung from its hanger.

He carefully examined the design of the beige blouse, imagining what it would look like on someone. He even began to think of what it would look like on himself. As much as he tried to push back that thought, it was too welcoming to resist. Maybe if he just tried it on...

He was about to reach for the hanger when he heard footsteps beside him.

"Um. Astro? What are you doing?" Brianna placed her hands on her hips.

"Huh?" He looked up to see her standing next to him. "Um..."

"Quit looking at that shirt like that! You perv!"

Astro let the soft cotton sleeves fall from his hands. He looked down in confusion and shame.

"I bet you were thinking about some girl's shoulders and getting a boner… _gross_." Brianna tsked before holding the shirt in front of her again. "Well? What do ya think?"

"I… I dunno…." He shrugged.

"Ugh! You're no help." She grunted and rolled her eyes. "Where's a mirror..."

Astro looked back at the blouse for a moment before following Brianna as she went to find something to look at herself in.

He kept his shame within for the rest of the time there, trying to focus on just hanging with her.

After paying, they walked out the automated doors, Astro walking behind Brianna and carrying the bag of clothes they bought. Brianna had ended up buying the shirt she saw. And another shirt. And a pair of jeans. All Astro ended up getting was a black t-shirt with an edgy graphic on the front that Brianna convinced him he should get.

"We should go eat something. Maybe then you'll stop being such a sad sack." She looked back at him and mocked him with a fake pouty face.

Astro stared down at the sidewalk as he shrugged for about the hundredth time.

"How about that park?" Brianna pointed to the park down the street.

"Nah. It's small and boring..."

"Then what else are we gonna do?!" She threw her hands in the air.

"Dunno..." Astro kicked a rock.

" _God_. Let's just go back to your place then and make out if that's the only thing you wanna do…."

Astro sighed and nodded.

…

They both came back a while after, Brianna clutching to the bag in her hand as Astro opened the door to the apartment for her.

"Oh… did they leave somewhere?" She asked.

"Uh, no, probably went to go do some work." Astro shrugged.

"Huh, interesting…" She followed Astro to his room.

Astro plopped down onto his bed, Brianna followed suit.

"Well, that was… something." She sighed.

"Maybe next time, you should come to Metro City and we can go get ice cream and walk the park."

"I guess." Astro shrugged.

"Ugh come _on_ Pookie face, the hell's wrong with you?!" She slapped his arm again.

"It's nothing… really."

"It better be, I'm not dating no Debbie Downer." She shook a finger.

Astro sighed.

"Okay, that's _it_. I'm going home." She dialed a number.

"You're a fucking baby, you know that?" She got up from the bed.

"If they ask, it went well." She left Astro's room, slamming the door behind her just hard enough to then feel the apartment slightly shake.

Astro didn't know what to do.

At first, it was like he felt sadder than he ever had, to then now feeling completely empty.

What was he to do?

He brought his knees up to his chest and sighed yet again.

…

"So then we went thrift shopping, I know, how boring." Astro began.

"So she went looking, I went looking, it was whatever."

"But… I saw something, and I went to look a bit closer- I really didn't seem to have a problem, I just _wanted a closer look_."

"But then, she comes over and she's like, uh… hmm… oh! She's like ' _what are you doing?_ ' and I look back like '?'."

Quinn was watching Astro, focusing on what he was saying.

"She's like ' _don't be a perv_ ' but like? What?"

"What were you looking at that would make her think that?"

"Oh! Uh… I-I… can't remember."

"Well, if it wasn't something deserving of a remark like that, then maybe she shouldn't have said anything…."

Astro sighed, "I guess… I mean it did hurt momentarily, but I think it's just best to put it behind and not get over reactionary about it."

"You really shouldn't let her abuse you."

"What?" Astro looked back at him confused, "The fuck are you talking about?! We've been dating for a year now- I think I'd know abuse if I saw it!"

"Sounds like something an abuse victim would say..." Finian put his book down and looked up at Astro.

Astro got up from the chair with a sigh and rolled eyes, "Whatever…." He left and went back to his room.

"I'm really not liking this Brianna..." Quinn turned to his husband.

"Me neither." Finn scowled. "She really isn't his type..."

"I'm being serious..."

"Me too. She's too high-strung for him… Plus a _blonde_? Really?"

"Finian, please… I don't like that he's dating someone so pushy."

"Let him date whomever he wants. It's not his fault you have trust issues with women."

"I… I do not!"

"Of course you don't, dear." Finian looked down and continued reading his book.

"That date you're planning better be good..." Quinn threatened before leaning back on the couch and turning on the TV.

 _ **((END OF CHAPTER 10!))**_


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